Surface Molecularly Engineered Mitochondria Conduct Immunophenotype Repolarization of Tumor‐Associated Macrophages to Potentiate Cancer Immunotherapy

Abstract

Abstract Reprogramming tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs) to an inflammatory phenotype effectively increases the potential of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. Artificial mitochondrial transplantation, an emerging and safe strategy, has made brilliant achievements in regulating the function of recipient cells in preclinic and clinic, but its performance in reprogramming the immunophenotype of TAMs has not been reported. Here, the metabolism of M2 TAMs is proposed resetting from oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to glycolysis for polarizing M1 TAMs through targeted transplantation of mannosylated mitochondria (mPEI/M1mt). Mitochondria isolated from M1 macrophages are coated with mannosylated polyethyleneimine (mPEI) through electrostatic interaction to form mPEI/M1mt, which can be targeted uptake by M2 macrophages expressed a high level of mannose receptors. Mechanistically, mPEI/M1mt accelerates phosphorylation of NF‐κB p65, MAPK p38 and JNK by glycolysis‐mediated elevation of intracellular ROS, thus prompting M1 macrophage polarization. In vivo, the transplantation of mPEI/M1mt excellently potentiates therapeutic effects of anti‐PD‐L1 by resetting an antitumor proinflammatory tumor microenvironment and stimulating CD8 and CD4 T cells dependent immune response. Altogether, this work provides a novel platform for improving cancer immunotherapy, meanwhile, broadens the scope of mitochondrial transplantation technology in clinics in the future.

Keywords

• immunotherapy
• metabolic regulation
• mitochondrial transplantation
• surface molecular engineering
• tumor‐associated macrophage