A biomimetic nanoplatform mediates hypoxia-adenosine axis disruption and PD-L1 knockout for enhanced MRI-guided chemodynamic-immunotherapy.

Abstract

Malignant melanoma is an extremely aggressive and fatal form of skin cancer due to the limited efficacy of conventional therapies. While immune checkpoint blockade therapy and chemodynamic therapy (CDT) have emerged as promising strategies for melanoma treatment, their effectiveness is compromised by the immunosuppressive and complex tumor microenvironment (TME). Here, cancer cell membrane-camouflaged nanoplatforms (PPMC@CM) were developed to co-deliver the CRISPR/Cas9-PD-L1 system and manganese dioxide nanoparticles (MnO₂ NPs) for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided CDT and enhanced immunotherapy. The formed PPMC@CM could efficiently accumulate at tumor sites by homologous targeting, generate O₂ to relieve hypoxia, and deplete glutathione (GSH) to enhance Mn²⁺-mediated Fenton-like reactions for enhanced CDT. Meanwhile, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated PD-L1 knockout effectively suppressed the PD-L1 expression, while hypoxia relief attenuated the immunosuppressive hypoxia-CD39/CD73-adenosine (ADO) pathway, thereby boosting the PD-L1-mediated immunotherapy. In vivo experimental results demonstrated that PPMC@CM nanoplatform could efficiently inhibit the growth and metastasis of melanoma by enhanced CDT and amplified immunotherapy, and provide targeted MRI of tumors. This work presents a novelty strategy to design biomimetic theranostic nanoplatform for melanoma by the combination of CDT and improved immunotherapy with CRISPR/Cas9-PD-L1 system and hypoxia-ADO axis inhibition. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive and treatment-refractory skin cancer, where conventional therapies exhibit limited efficacy and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) is often compromised by the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). To address these challenges, we developed a biomimetic nanoplatform (PPMC@CM) to codeliver MnO₂ nanoparticles and the CRISPR/Cas9-PD-L1 gene-editing system for MRI-guided chemodynamic therapy and enhanced immunotherapy. The PPMC@CM nanoplatform could efficiently accumulate at tumor sites by homologous targeting and relieve hypoxia to suppress the hypoxia-CD39/CD73-adenosine immunosuppressive axis. Additionally, the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated PD-L1 knockout significantly suppresses PD-L1 expression, thereby boosting ICB efficacy. Moreover, PPMC@CM could deplete glutathione in the TME to amplify Mn²⁺-mediated Fenton-like reactions for enhanced chemodynamic therapy. This research represents a promising theranostic nanoplatform for melanoma by combining chemodynamic therapy and immunotherapy.