Engineering STING Nanoadjuvants for spatiotemporally-tailored innate immunity stimulation and cancer vaccination therapy

Abstract Spatiotemporally-tailored activation of dendritic cells (DC) in lymph nodes (LN) remains a critical challenge for effective cancer vaccination therapy. In this study, we show that photo/sonodynamic effect can trigger the nuclear transcription factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and stimulator of interfe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fangmin Chen, Huijuan Zhang, Shiqin Li, Siyuan Ren, Lujia Huang, Zhixiong Cai, Lichen Yin, Mingyue Zheng, Xiaolong Liu, Zhiai Xu, Haijun Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60927-7
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849768611618488320
author Fangmin Chen
Huijuan Zhang
Shiqin Li
Siyuan Ren
Lujia Huang
Zhixiong Cai
Lichen Yin
Mingyue Zheng
Xiaolong Liu
Zhiai Xu
Haijun Yu
author_facet Fangmin Chen
Huijuan Zhang
Shiqin Li
Siyuan Ren
Lujia Huang
Zhixiong Cai
Lichen Yin
Mingyue Zheng
Xiaolong Liu
Zhiai Xu
Haijun Yu
author_sort Fangmin Chen
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Spatiotemporally-tailored activation of dendritic cells (DC) in lymph nodes (LN) remains a critical challenge for effective cancer vaccination therapy. In this study, we show that photo/sonodynamic effect can trigger the nuclear transcription factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathways activation in DC. We engineers a library of spatiotemporally-tailored STING nanoadjuvants (SNA) by conjugating the photo/sonosensitizer and STING agonist onto the biodegradable polypeptide, and co-assembling with charge-modified polypeptides. The combination of antigen-loaded SNA vaccine (SNVac) with laser irradiation or ultrasound stimulation (namely SNVac-L or SNVac-US) efficiently facilitates DC activation and induces antigen-specific CD8+ T cell response in vivo comparing to the free mixture of antigen with STING agonist. We further demonstrate that SNVac-L monotherapy or combination therapy with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) elicits antitumor immunity to reduce tumor size and prevent tumor relapse in multiple mouse tumor models. This study thus provides a potential translational strategy for spatiotemporally-tailored innate immunity stimulation of DC to potentiate cancer immunotherapy.
format Article
id doaj-art-a13644fdf09c4d1c98caa334c7ac9f5c
institution DOAJ
issn 2041-1723
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series Nature Communications
spelling doaj-art-a13644fdf09c4d1c98caa334c7ac9f5c2025-08-20T03:03:44ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116112110.1038/s41467-025-60927-7Engineering STING Nanoadjuvants for spatiotemporally-tailored innate immunity stimulation and cancer vaccination therapyFangmin Chen0Huijuan Zhang1Shiqin Li2Siyuan Ren3Lujia Huang4Zhixiong Cai5Lichen Yin6Mingyue Zheng7Xiaolong Liu8Zhiai Xu9Haijun Yu10State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology & Center of Pharmaceutics, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of SciencesState Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology & Center of Pharmaceutics, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of SciencesState Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology & Center of Pharmaceutics, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of SciencesState Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology & Center of Pharmaceutics, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of SciencesState Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology & Center of Pharmaceutics, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of SciencesThe United Innovation of Mengchao Hepatobiliary Technology Key Laboratory of Fujian Province, Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical UniversityInstitute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow UniversityState Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of SciencesThe United Innovation of Mengchao Hepatobiliary Technology Key Laboratory of Fujian Province, Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical UniversitySchool of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal UniversityState Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology & Center of Pharmaceutics, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of SciencesAbstract Spatiotemporally-tailored activation of dendritic cells (DC) in lymph nodes (LN) remains a critical challenge for effective cancer vaccination therapy. In this study, we show that photo/sonodynamic effect can trigger the nuclear transcription factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathways activation in DC. We engineers a library of spatiotemporally-tailored STING nanoadjuvants (SNA) by conjugating the photo/sonosensitizer and STING agonist onto the biodegradable polypeptide, and co-assembling with charge-modified polypeptides. The combination of antigen-loaded SNA vaccine (SNVac) with laser irradiation or ultrasound stimulation (namely SNVac-L or SNVac-US) efficiently facilitates DC activation and induces antigen-specific CD8+ T cell response in vivo comparing to the free mixture of antigen with STING agonist. We further demonstrate that SNVac-L monotherapy or combination therapy with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) elicits antitumor immunity to reduce tumor size and prevent tumor relapse in multiple mouse tumor models. This study thus provides a potential translational strategy for spatiotemporally-tailored innate immunity stimulation of DC to potentiate cancer immunotherapy.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60927-7
spellingShingle Fangmin Chen
Huijuan Zhang
Shiqin Li
Siyuan Ren
Lujia Huang
Zhixiong Cai
Lichen Yin
Mingyue Zheng
Xiaolong Liu
Zhiai Xu
Haijun Yu
Engineering STING Nanoadjuvants for spatiotemporally-tailored innate immunity stimulation and cancer vaccination therapy
Nature Communications
title Engineering STING Nanoadjuvants for spatiotemporally-tailored innate immunity stimulation and cancer vaccination therapy
title_full Engineering STING Nanoadjuvants for spatiotemporally-tailored innate immunity stimulation and cancer vaccination therapy
title_fullStr Engineering STING Nanoadjuvants for spatiotemporally-tailored innate immunity stimulation and cancer vaccination therapy
title_full_unstemmed Engineering STING Nanoadjuvants for spatiotemporally-tailored innate immunity stimulation and cancer vaccination therapy
title_short Engineering STING Nanoadjuvants for spatiotemporally-tailored innate immunity stimulation and cancer vaccination therapy
title_sort engineering sting nanoadjuvants for spatiotemporally tailored innate immunity stimulation and cancer vaccination therapy
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60927-7
work_keys_str_mv AT fangminchen engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy
AT huijuanzhang engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy
AT shiqinli engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy
AT siyuanren engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy
AT lujiahuang engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy
AT zhixiongcai engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy
AT lichenyin engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy
AT mingyuezheng engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy
AT xiaolongliu engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy
AT zhiaixu engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy
AT haijunyu engineeringstingnanoadjuvantsforspatiotemporallytailoredinnateimmunitystimulationandcancervaccinationtherapy