Remodeling of anti-tumor immunity with antibodies targeting a p53 mutant

p53, the most frequently mutated gene in cancer, lacks effective targeted drugs.

We developed monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that target a p53 hotspot mutation E285K without cross-reactivity with wild-type p53. They were delivered using lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that encapsulate DNA plasmids. Western blot, BLI, flow cytometry, single-cell sequencing (scRNA-seq), and other methods were employed to assess the function of mAbs in vitro and in vivo.

These LNP-pE285K-mAbs in the IgG1 format exhibited a robust anti-tumor effect, facilitating the infiltration of immune cells, including CD8⁺ T, B, and NK cells. scRNA-seq revealed that IgG1 reduces immune inhibitory signaling, increases MHC signaling from B cells to CD8⁺ T cells, and enriches anti-tumor T cell and B cell receptor profiles. The E285K-mAbs were also produced in the dimeric IgA (dIgA) format, whose anti-tumor activity depended on the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (PIGR), a membrane Ig receptor, whereas that of IgG1 relied on TRIM21, an intracellular IgG receptor.

Targeting specific mutant epitopes using DNA-encoded and LNP-delivered mAbs represents a potential precision medicine strategy against p53 mutants in TRIM21- or PIGR-positive cancers.