Study of epirubicin sustained-release chemoablation in tumor suppression and tumor microenvironment remodeling

Although intratumoral chemoablation can obtain an impressive therapeutic effect, there is still incomplete ablation and tumor recurrence in some patients. This could be due to the short retention time of the drug in the tumor, the limited distribution of intratumoral drugs, and, beyond that, the immunotolerance caused by the tumor microenvironment (TME). There is still an urgent need to find an optimal drug sustained-release carrier and figure out the impact of regional injection to TME.

In this study, we supposed to use polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogel as a drug carrier to improve the retention time of the drug to extend the exposure of tumor cells and investigate the feasibility of combination local Epirubicin injection with anti-PD-L1.

The results revealed obvious tumor suppression based on the tumor volume and the inhibition time of tumor growth in the A549 lung cancer mouse model after local injection. Furthermore, the enhanced antitumor effects of the combination of systematic anti- programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) therapy with local chemoablation (EPI-GEL/PD-L1) for abscopal tumor reduction in the 4T1 breast model were also observed. Flow cytometry analysis of the tumor and blood samples showed significant variations in the proportions of PD-L1⁺ and CD3⁺CD8⁺PD-1⁺ cells before and after anti-PD-L1 therapy. On day 4 after local injection of the EPI gel, the expression of PD-L1 in abscopal tumors was upregulated, while the expression of PD-L1 in bilateral tumors in mice was significantly reduced after anti-PD-L1 treatment. The proportion of CD3⁺CD8⁺PD-1⁺ cells in the tumor and circulating blood in the EPI-GEL/PD-L1 group was decreased compared with that in the EPI-GEL (single injection of epirubicin) group.

The combination of local injection of the chemoablation agent with anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy may strengthen the antitumor activity, and the use of PEG hydrogel as the drug carrier can extend the retention time of the chemoablation agent around the tumor, maintaining a long-term tumor-killing activity.