Lipid‐Polymer Nanoparticles Mediate Compartmentalized Delivery of Cas9 and sgRNA for Glioblastoma Vasculature and Immune Reprogramming

Abstract

Abstract Hypervascularized glioblastoma is naturally sensitive to anti‐angiogenesis but suffers from low efficacy of transient vasculature normalization. In this study, a lipid‐polymer nanoparticle is synthesized to execute compartmentalized Cas9 and sgRNA delivery for a permanent vasculature editing strategy by knocking out the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3). The phenylboronic acid branched cationic polymer is designed to condense sgRNA electrostatically (inner compartment) and patch Cas9 coordinatively (outer compartment), followed by liposomal hybridization with angiopep‐2 decoration for blood–brain barrier (BBB) penetration. The lipid‐polymer nanoparticles can reach glioblastoma within 2 h post intravenous administration, and hypoxia in tumor cells triggers charge‐elimination and degradation of the cationic polymer for burst release of Cas9 and sgRNA, accompanied by instant Cas9 RNP assembly, yielding ≈50% STAT3 knockout. The downregulation of downstream vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) reprograms vasculature normalization to improve immune infiltration, collaborating with interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) and interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) reduction to develop anti‐glioblastoma responses. Collectively, the combinational assembly for compartmentalized Cas9/sgRNA delivery provides a potential solution in glioblastoma therapy.

Keywords

• Cas9 and sgRNA
• compartmentalized delivery
• glioblastoma therapy
• lipid‐polymer nanoparticles
• STAT3 gene editing