Selective activation and expansion of regulatory T cells using lipid encapsulated mRNA encoding a long-acting IL-2 mutein.

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is critical for regulatory T cell (Treg) function and homeostasis. At low doses, IL-2 can suppress immune pathologies by expanding Tregs that constitutively express the high affinity IL-2Rα subunit. However, even low dose IL-2, signaling through the IL2-Rß/γ complex, may lead to the activation of proinflammatory, non-Treg T cells, so improving specificity toward Tregs may be desirable. Here we use messenger RNAs (mRNA) to encode a half-life-extended human IL-2 mutein (HSA-IL2m) with mutations promoting reliance on IL-2Rα. Our data show that IL-2 mutein subcutaneous delivery as lipid-encapsulated mRNA nanoparticles selectively activates and expands Tregs in mice and non-human primates, and also reduces disease severity in mouse models of acute graft versus host disease and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Single cell RNA-sequencing of mouse splenic CD4+ T cells identifies multiple Treg states with distinct response dynamics following IL-2 mutein treatment. Our results thus demonstrate the potential of mRNA-encoded HSA-IL2m immunotherapy to treat autoimmune diseases.

Tolerogenic Nanoparticles Induce Antigen-Specific Regulatory T Cells and Provide Therapeutic Efficacy and Transferrable Tolerance against Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis.

T cells reacting to self-components can promote tissue damage when escaping tolerogenic control mechanisms which may result in autoimmune disease. The current treatments for these disorders are not antigen (Ag) specific and can compromise host immunity through chronic suppression. We have previously demonstrated that co-administration of encapsulated or free Ag with tolerogenic nanoparticles (tNPs) comprised of biodegradable polymers that encapsulate rapamycin are capable of inhibiting Ag-specific transgenic T cell proliferation and inducing Ag-specific regulatory T cells (Tregs). Here, we further show that tNPs can trigger the expansion of endogenous Tregs specific to a target Ag. The proportion of Ag-specific Treg to total Ag-specific T cells remains constant even after subsequent Ag challenge in combination with a potent TLR7/8 agonist or complete Freund's adjuvant. tNP-treated mice do not develop experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) after adoptive transfer of encephalitogenic T cells; furthermore, tNP treatment provided therapeutic protection in relapsing EAE that was transferred to naïve animals. These findings describe a potent therapy to expand Ag-specific Tregs in vivo and suppress T cell-mediated autoimmunity.

Improving the efficacy and safety of biologic drugs with tolerogenic nanoparticles.

The development of antidrug antibodies (ADAs) is a common cause for the failure of biotherapeutic treatments and adverse hypersensitivity reactions. Here we demonstrate that poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles carrying rapamycin, but not free rapamycin, are capable of inducing durable immunological tolerance to co-administered proteins that is characterized by the induction of tolerogenic dendritic cells, an increase in regulatory T cells, a reduction in B cell activation and germinal centre formation, and the inhibition of antigen-specific hypersensitivity reactions. Intravenous co-administration of tolerogenic nanoparticles with pegylated uricase inhibited the formation of ADAs in mice and non-human primates and normalized serum uric acid levels in uricase-deficient mice. Similarly, the subcutaneous co-administration of nanoparticles with adalimumab resulted in the durable inhibition of ADAs, leading to normalized pharmacokinetics of the anti-TNFα antibody and protection against arthritis in TNFα transgenic mice. Adjunct therapy with tolerogenic nanoparticles represents a novel and broadly applicable approach to prevent the formation of ADAs against biologic therapies.

Polymeric synthetic nanoparticles for the induction of antigen-specific immunological tolerance.

Current treatments to control pathological or unwanted immune responses often use broadly immunosuppressive drugs. New approaches to induce antigen-specific immunological tolerance that control both cellular and humoral immune responses are desirable. Here we describe the use of synthetic, biodegradable nanoparticles carrying either protein or peptide antigens and a tolerogenic immunomodulator, rapamycin, to induce durable and antigen-specific immune tolerance, even in the presence of potent Toll-like receptor agonists. Treatment with tolerogenic nanoparticles results in the inhibition of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell activation, an increase in regulatory cells, durable B-cell tolerance resistant to multiple immunogenic challenges, and the inhibition of antigen-specific hypersensitivity reactions, relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, and antibody responses against coagulation factor VIII in hemophilia A mice, even in animals previously sensitized to antigen. Only encapsulated rapamycin, not the free form, could induce immunological tolerance. Tolerogenic nanoparticle therapy represents a potential novel approach for the treatment of allergies, autoimmune diseases, and prevention of antidrug antibodies against biologic therapies.

Roles of lung epithelium in neutrophil recruitment during pneumococcal pneumonia.

Epithelial cells line the respiratory tract and interface with the external world. Epithelial cells contribute to pulmonary inflammation, but specific epithelial roles have proven difficult to define. To discover unique epithelial activities that influence immunity during infection, we generated mice with nuclear factor-κB RelA mutated throughout all epithelial cells of the lung and coupled this approach with epithelial cell isolation from infected and uninfected lungs for cell-specific analyses of gene induction. The RelA mutant mice appeared normal basally, but in response to pneumococcus in the lungs they were unable to rapidly recruit neutrophils to the air spaces. Epithelial cells expressed multiple neutrophil-stimulating cytokines during pneumonia, all of which depended on RelA. Cytokine expression by nonepithelial cells was unaltered by the epithelial mutation of RelA. Epithelial cells were the predominant sources of CXCL5 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), whereas nonepithelial cells were major sources for other neutrophil-activating cytokines. Epithelial RelA mutation decreased whole lung levels of CXCL5 and GM-CSF during pneumococcal pneumonia, whereas lung levels of other neutrophil-recruiting factors were unaffected. Defective neutrophil recruitment in epithelial mutant mice could be rescued by administration of CXCL5 or GM-CSF. These results reveal a specialized immune function for the pulmonary epithelium, the induction of CXCL5 and GM-CSF, to accelerate neutrophil recruitment in the infected lung.

Roles of STAT3 in protein secretion pathways during the acute-phase response.

The acute-phase response is characteristic of perhaps all infections, including bacterial pneumonia. In conjunction with the acute-phase response, additional biological pathways are induced in the liver and are dependent on the transcription factors STAT3 and NF-κB, but these responses are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that pneumococcal pneumonia and other severe infections increase expression of multiple components of the cellular secretory machinery in the mouse liver, including the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) translocon complex, which mediates protein translation into the ER, and the coat protein complexes (COPI and COPII), which mediate vesicular transport of proteins to and from the ER. Hepatocyte-specific mutation of STAT3 prevented the induction of these secretory pathways during pneumonia, with similar results observed following pharmacological activation of ER stress by using tunicamycin. These findings implicate STAT3 in the unfolded protein response and suggest that STAT3-dependent optimization of secretion may apply broadly. Pneumonia also stimulated the binding of phosphorylated STAT3 to promoter regions of secretion-related genes in the liver, supporting a direct role for STAT3 in their transcription. Altogether, these results identify a novel function of STAT3 during the acute-phase response, namely, the induction of secretory machinery in hepatocytes. This may facilitate the processing and delivery of newly synthesized loads of acute-phase proteins, enhancing innate immunity and preventing liver injury during infection.

Zcchc11 uridylates mature miRNAs to enhance neonatal IGF-1 expression, growth, and survival.

The Zcchc11 enzyme is implicated in microRNA (miRNA) regulation. It can uridylate let-7 precursors to decrease quantities of the mature miRNA in embryonic stem cell lines, suggested to mediate stem cell maintenance. It can uridylate mature miR-26 to relieve silencing activity without impacting miRNA content in cancer cell lines, suggested to mediate cytokine and growth factor expression. Broader roles of Zcchc11 in shaping or remodeling the miRNome or in directing biological or physiological processes remain entirely speculative. We generated Zcchc11-deficient mice to address these knowledge gaps. Zcchc11 deficiency had no impact on embryogenesis or fetal development, but it significantly decreased survival and growth immediately following birth, indicating a role for this enzyme in early postnatal fitness. Deep sequencing of small RNAs from neonatal livers revealed roles of this enzyme in miRNA sequence diversity. Zcchc11 deficiency diminished the lengths and terminal uridine frequencies for diverse mature miRNAs, but it had no influence on the quantities of any miRNAs. The expression of IGF-1, a liver-derived protein essential to early growth and survival, was enhanced by Zcchc11 expression in vitro, and miRNA silencing of IGF-1 was alleviated by uridylation events observed to be Zcchc11-dependent in the neonatal liver. In neonatal mice, Zcchc11 deficiency significantly decreased IGF-1 mRNA in the liver and IGF-1 protein in the blood. We conclude that the Zcchc11-mediated terminal uridylation of mature miRNAs is pervasive and physiologically significant, especially important in the neonatal period for fostering IGF-1 expression and enhancing postnatal growth and survival. We propose that the miRNA 3' terminus is a regulatory node upon which multiple enzymes converge to direct silencing activity and tune gene expression.

Type I alveolar epithelial cells mount innate immune responses during pneumococcal pneumonia.

Pneumonia results from bacteria in the alveoli. The alveolar epithelium consists of type II cells, which secrete surfactant and associated proteins, and type I cells, which constitute 95% of the surface area and meet anatomic and structural needs. Other than constitutively expressed surfactant proteins, it is unknown whether alveolar epithelial cells have distinct roles in innate immunity. Because innate immunity gene induction depends on NF-κB RelA (also known as p65) during pneumonia, we generated a murine model of RelA mutated throughout the alveolar epithelium. In response to LPS, only 2 of 84 cytokine transcripts (CCL20 and CXCL5) were blunted in lungs of mutants, suggesting that a very limited subset of immune mediators is selectively elaborated by the alveolar epithelium. Lung CCL20 induction required epithelial RelA regardless of stimulus, whereas lung CXCL5 expression depended on RelA after instillation of LPS but not pneumococcus. RelA knockdown in vitro suggested that CXCL5 induction required RelA in type II cells but not type I cells. Sorted cell populations from mouse lungs revealed that CXCL5 was induced during pneumonia in type I cells, which did not require RelA. TLR2 and STING were also induced in type I cells, with RelA essential for TLR2 but not STING. To our knowledge, these data are the first direct demonstration that type I cells, which constitute the majority of the alveolar surface, mount innate immune responses during bacterial infection. These are also, to our knowledge, the first evidence for entirely RelA-independent pathways of innate immunity gene induction in any cell during pneumonia.

Hepatocyte-specific mutation of both NF-κB RelA and STAT3 abrogates the acute phase response in mice.

The acute phase response is an evolutionarily conserved reaction in which physiological stress triggers the liver to remodel the blood proteome. Although thought to be involved in immune defense, the net biological effect of the acute phase response remains unknown. As the acute phase response is stimulated by diverse cytokines that activate either NF-κB or STAT3, we hypothesized that it could be eliminated by hepatocyte-specific interruption of both transcription factors. Here, we report that the elimination in mice of both NF-κB p65 (RelA) and STAT3, but neither alone, abrogated all acute phase responses measured. The failure to respond was consistent across multiple different infectious, inflammatory, and noxious stimuli, including pneumococcal pneumonia. When the effects of infection were analyzed in detail, pneumococcal pneumonia was found to alter the expression of over a thousand transcripts in the liver. This outcome was inhibited by the combined loss of RelA and STAT3. Moreover, this interruption of the acute phase response increased mortality and exacerbated bacterial dissemination during pneumonia, possibly as a result of acute humoral enhancement of macrophage opsonophagocytosis, which was impaired in the mutant mice. Thus, we conclude that RelA and STAT3 are essential for stress-induced transcriptional remodeling in the liver and the subsequent activation of the acute phase response, whose functional role includes compartmentalization of local infection.