Detachable Liposomes Combined Immunochemotherapy for Enhanced Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treatment through Reprogramming of Tumor-Associated Macrophages

Nano Lett. 2021 Jul 28;21(14):6031-6041. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01210. Epub 2021 Jul 9.

Abstract

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive disease with a high recurrence rate and poor outcomes in clinic. In this study, inspired by the enriched innate immune cell type tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in TNBC, we proposed a matrix metalloprotease 2 (MMP2) responsive integrated immunochemotherapeutic strategy to deliver paclitaxel (PTX) and anti-CD47 (aCD47) by detachable immune liposomes (ILips). In the TNBC microenvironment, the "two-in-one" ILips facilitated MMP2-responsive release of aCD47 to efficiently polarize M2 macrophages toward the M1 phenotype to enhance phagocytosis against tumor cells and activate the systemic T cell immune response. Together with the immune effect, the detached PTX-loaded liposomes were internalized in MDA-MB-231 cells to synergistically inhibit tumor cell proliferation and metastasis. In the TNBC-bearing mouse model, PTX-loaded ILips demonstrated superior antitumor efficacy against TNBC and inhibited tumor recurrence. Our integrated strategy represents a promising approach to synchronously enhance immune response and tumor-killing effects, improving the therapeutic efficacy against TNBC.

Keywords: Immunochemotherapy; MMP2 response; liposomes; triple-negative breast cancer; tumor-associated macrophages.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Humans
  • Liposomes
  • Mice
  • Paclitaxel / pharmacology
  • Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms* / drug therapy
  • Tumor Microenvironment
  • Tumor-Associated Macrophages

Substances

  • Liposomes
  • Paclitaxel