Reprogramming the melanoma tumor immune microenvironment via combinatorial signal 2/3 gene delivery

An adaptive immune response to cancer requires three main signals: antigen presentation and recognition ("signal 1"), costimulation ("signal 2"), and secreted immunostimulatory cytokines ("signal 3"). Expression of these signals in tumors via non-viral gene delivery represents a promising strategy to reprogram the tumor microenvironment (TME) and prime antitumor immunity.

We used modular polymeric poly(beta-amino ester)-based nanoparticles (NPs) to investigate codelivery of plasmids encoding signal 3s (interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12, IL-15, IL-23, IL-35, or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor) and signal 2s (4-1BBL, CD80, CD86, or OX40L) to B16F10 melanoma tumors in vivo. Downstream immune responses and impact on the TME were assessed via flow cytometry and spatial proteomics using a 27-marker PhenoCycler panel.

Ex vivo flow cytometry and PhenoCycler tissue analysis revealed that multiple signal 2/3 NP combinations led to decreased tumor growth, increased immune-cell infiltration, and skewing of adaptive and innate populations towards immunostimulatory phenotypes with increased CD8⁺ T-cell and M1 macrophage infiltration. Signal 2/3 NPs also drove antigen presentation on tumor and antigen-presenting cells (APCs) (macrophages, dendritic cells), and led to induction of major histocompatibility complex class I and class II on melanoma cells. Evaluation of putative biomarkers of treatment response to signal 2/3 NP delivery demonstrated that multiple markers of an inflamed TME correlated negatively with tumor growth, with antigen presentation induction highly correlated with tumor size reduction. Spatial analysis on top-performing NP formulations demonstrated that immune cell populations entered the TME via both the tumor-stroma interface and intratumoral vessels; CD8⁺ T cells and proinflammatory M1 macrophages were brought into proximity. Furthermore, top NP formulations increased the density of intratumoral CD8⁺-CD4⁺-proinflammatory APC triads, which have been identified as key structures for immunotherapy-mediated clearance of solid tumors.

These results demonstrate the utility of a modular NP design for systematic screening of signal 2/3 delivery to melanoma in vivo and highlight the benefit of in-depth profiling via spatial proteomics to evaluate local antitumor immune responses. The results provide insight into the mechanisms underpinning this therapeutic reprogramming strategy, emphasizing the relationship between signal 2/3 NPs and their ability to drive signal 1 for productive antitumor responses in vivo.