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Applied immunology

Antibiotic nanoparticles boost antitumor immunity

Nature Biotechnology (2023)Cite this article

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Liposomes loaded with antibiotics eliminate intracellular bacteria in a colorectal cancer model, unleashing antitumor T cell immunity.

In cancer immunotherapy, stimulation of antitumor T cell responses requires recognition between T cell receptors and tumor-derived epitopes presented by the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I)2. However, tumors with a low mutational burden have few neoantigens, which limits the repertoire of antitumor T cells3. Bacteria may enter both tumor cells and antigen-presenting cells in tumor tissues4, suggesting that microbial neoepitopes might engage antitumor T cell immunity, and several studies have reported that microbial peptide antigens can be presented by human tumor cells and can activate T cells ex vivo5,6. However, it has been difficult to exploit this phenomenon for cancer therapy.

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Fig. 1: Antibiotics-loaded liposomes kill intratumoral bacteria and elicit antitumor T cell immunity.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Kai Han, Young Seok Cho.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Kai Han, Young Seok Cho & James J. Moon

  2. State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China

    Kai Han

  3. Biointerfaces Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Kai Han, Young Seok Cho & James J. Moon

  4. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    James J. Moon

Authors
  1. Kai Han
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  2. Young Seok Cho
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  3. James J. Moon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to James J. Moon.

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Competing interests

J.J.M. declares financial interests for board membership, as a paid consultant, for research funding, and/or as an equity holder in EVOQ Therapeutics and Saros Therapeutics.

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Han, K., Cho, Y.S. & Moon, J.J. Antibiotic nanoparticles boost antitumor immunity. Nat Biotechnol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-02046-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-02046-6

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