An in situ engineered chimeric IL-2 receptor potentiates the tumoricidal activity of proinflammatory CAR macrophages in renal cell carcinoma.

Abstract

Chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M) therapy has shown great promise in solid malignancies; however, the phenotypic re-domestication of CAR-Ms in the immunosuppressive tumor niche restricts their antitumor immunity. We here report an in situ engineered chimeric interleukin (IL)-2 signaling receptor (CSR) for controllably manipulating the proinflammatory phenotype of CAR-Ms, augmenting their sustained tumoricidal immunity. Specifically, our in-house-customized lipid nanoparticles efficiently introduce dual circular RNAs into macrophages to generate CSR-functionalized CAR-Ms. The intracellular inflammatory signaling pathway of CAR-Ms can be stimulated with the IL-2 therapeutic via the synthetic IL-2 receptor, which induces the antitumor phenotype shifting of CAR-Ms. Moreover, hydrogel-mediated combinatory treatment with lipid nanoparticles and IL-2 remodels the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and promotes tumor regression in renal carcinoma animal models. In summary, our findings establish that the proinflammatory phenotype of CAR-Ms can be modulated by a synthetic IL-2 receptor, benefiting the antitumor immunotherapy of CAR-Ms with broad application in other solid malignancies.