Tumor-Derived PD-L1⁺ Exosomes with Natural Inflammation Tropism for Psoriasis-Targeted Treatment

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease whose etiology is directly related to the dysregulation of cutaneous immune homeostasis. However, how to finely modulate the skin immune microenvironment to restore homeostasis remains an important challenge. Inspired by the natural attribute of tumor exosomes in the immune escape, the tumor-derived exosomes as an active targeting nanoplatform for the effective treatment of inflammatory skin disorder were first reported. As keratinocytes and immune cells express high PD-1 during the onset of psoriasiform skin inflammation, the PD-L1-positive exosomes derived from melanoma cells carrying pristimerin with extremely anti-inflammatory potential were yielded to treat psoriasis. The PD-L1⁺ exosomes carrying pristimerin were characterized, and the cellular uptake was performed to evaluate the PD-1 target capability. The anti-inflammatory action of PD-L1⁺ exosomes carrying pristimerin was observed in both in vitro and in vivo models of psoriasis. Our exosomes substantially increased pristimerin uptake with CD4⁺ T cells and keratinocytes, significantly inhibited the proliferation of Th17 cells, and promoted Treg differentiation in a psoriasis-like model. Obviously, PD-L1⁺ exosomes carrying pristimerin significantly and safely reversed imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis in mice, indicated by reducing epidermal thickness, decreasing plaque formation, and suppressed excessive inflammatory response, due to its dual targeting of both CD4⁺ T cells and keratinocytes gathering around the lesion. The inflammatory cell infiltration and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in psoriasis were suppressed by our engineered exosomes. Besides, PD-L1⁺ exosomes carrying pristimerin treatment alleviated ferroptosis-related changes in psoriatic skin, thereby dampening excessive inflammation and, in turn, decreasing the abnormal proliferation of keratinocytes in psoriatic lesions. This study demonstrates that our engineered exosomes can not only act as a treat-to-target strategy for psoriasis treatment but also provide insight in clinical application of inflammatory disorders.