Blood-brain barrier-traversing multivalent TGFβ trap for anti-cancer immunomodulation of gliomas

Clinical studies have revealed that glioblastoma (GBM) is refractory to immunotherapy, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), due to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) primarily intensified by intratumoral upregulation of transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ). Primary GBM tumor bulks are surgically removed in clinic, but invasive tumor cells infiltrated into surrounding normal brain tissue cannot be eradicated by systemic therapy due to the integral blood-brain barrier (BBB), leading to near-inevitable tumor recurrence. To address these translational challenges, we have engineered a TGFβ-inhibiting protein nanocage comprising human heavy-chain ferritin protein and TGFβ receptor II ectodomain that enables BBB penetration and multivalent TGFβ entrapment, respectively. We demonstrate that the nanocage platform, denoted TβR2-HFt, following systemic administration, traverses the BBB, and extensively modulates immunosuppressive TME, both stromal and immune components, thereby potentiating the therapeutic efficacy of a clinically used ICI in multiple mouse glioma models. Notably, a majority of the glioma-bearing animals that received surgical tumor resection, followed by treatment with TβR2-HFt and the ICI, survived the tumor and resisted tumor rechallenge, providing a potential means to control GBM in a durable manner.

BBB-traversing multivalent TGFβ trap reverses the immunosuppressive TME to rescue therapeutic efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade against GBM.