Therapeutic exosomal vaccine for enhanced cancer immunotherapy by mediating tumor microenvironment

Fangfang Lv1,2, Huifang Liu1,2, Gaoqian Zhao1,2

  • 1College of Pharmaceutical Science, Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Quality Control of Hebei Province, Institute of Life Science and Green Development, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China.

Iscience
|January 13, 2022
PubMed

Tumor immunotherapy has been convincingly demonstrated as a feasible approach for treating cancers. Although promising, the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) has been recognized as a major obstacle in tumor immunotherapy. It is highly desirable to release an immunosuppressive "brake" for improving cancer immunotherapy. Among tumor-infiltrated immune cells, tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play an important role in the growth, invasion, and metastasis of tumors. The polarization of TAMs (M2) into the M1 type can alleviate the immunosuppression of the TME and enhance the effect of immunotherapy. Inspired by this, we constructed a therapeutic exosomal vaccine from antigen-stimulated M1-type macrophages (M1OVA-Exos). M1OVA-Exos are capable of polarizing TAMs into M1 type through downregulation of the Wnt signaling pathway. Mediating the TME further activates the immune response and inhibits tumor growth and metastasis via the exosomal vaccine. Our study provides a new strategy for the polarization of TAMs, which augments cancer vaccine therapy efficacy.

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