Amphiregulin from regulatory T cells promotes liver fibrosis and insulin resistance in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Production of amphiregulin (Areg) by regulatory T (Treg) cells promotes repair after acute tissue injury. Here, we examined the function of Treg cells in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a setting of chronic liver injury. Areg-producing Treg cells were enriched in the livers of mice and humans with NASH. Deletion of Areg in Treg cells, but not in myeloid cells, reduced NASH-induced liver fibrosis. Chronic liver damage induced transcriptional changes associated with Treg cell activation. Mechanistically, Treg cell-derived Areg activated pro-fibrotic transcriptional programs in hepatic stellate cells via epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling. Deletion of Areg in Treg cells protected mice from NASH-dependent glucose intolerance, which also was dependent on EGFR signaling on hepatic stellate cells. Areg from Treg cells promoted hepatocyte gluconeogenesis through hepatocyte detection of hepatic stellate cell-derived interleukin-6. Our findings reveal a maladaptive role for Treg cell-mediated tissue repair functions in chronic liver disease and link liver damage to NASH-dependent glucose intolerance.

Probiotic-guided CAR-T cells for solid tumor targeting.

A major challenge facing tumor-antigen targeting therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells is the identification of suitable targets that are specifically and uniformly expressed on heterogeneous solid tumors. By contrast, certain species of bacteria selectively colonize immune-privileged tumor cores and can be engineered as antigen-independent platforms for therapeutic delivery. To bridge these approaches, we developed a platform of probiotic-guided CAR-T cells (ProCARs), in which tumor-colonizing probiotics release synthetic targets that label tumor tissue for CAR-mediated lysis in situ. This system demonstrated CAR-T cell activation and antigen-agnostic cell lysis that was safe and effective in multiple xenograft and syngeneic models of human and mouse cancers. We further engineered multifunctional probiotics that co-release chemokines to enhance CAR-T cell recruitment and therapeutic response.

Chemokines expressed by engineered bacteria recruit and orchestrate antitumor immunity.

Tumors use multiple mechanisms to actively exclude immune cells involved in antitumor immunity. Strategies to overcome these exclusion signals remain limited due to an inability to target therapeutics specifically to the tumor. Synthetic biology enables engineering of cells and microbes for tumor-localized delivery of therapeutic candidates previously unavailable using conventional systemic administration techniques. Here, we engineer bacteria to intratumorally release chemokines to attract adaptive immune cells into the tumor environment. Bacteria expressing an activating mutant of the human chemokine CXCL16 (hCXCL16K42A) offer therapeutic benefit in multiple mouse tumor models, an effect mediated via recruitment of CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, we target the presentation of tumor-derived antigens by dendritic cells, using a second engineered bacterial strain expressing CCL20. This led to type 1 conventional dendritic cell recruitment and synergized with hCXCL16K42A-induced T cell recruitment to provide additional therapeutic benefit. In summary, we engineer bacteria to recruit and activate innate and adaptive antitumor immune responses, offering a new cancer immunotherapy strategy.