Volume 60, Issue 52 pp. 26994-27004
Research Article

Targeted Enrichment of Enzyme-Instructed Assemblies in Cancer Cell Lysosomes Turns Immunologically Cold Tumors Hot

Dr. Shenglu Ji

Dr. Shenglu Ji

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, and College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, School of Life Science and Technology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003 China

Search for more papers by this author
Dr. Jun Li

Dr. Jun Li

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, and College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

Search for more papers by this author
Xingchen Duan

Xingchen Duan

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, and College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

Search for more papers by this author
Jingtian Zhang

Jingtian Zhang

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, and College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

Search for more papers by this author
Yufan Zhang

Yufan Zhang

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, and College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

Search for more papers by this author
Mengqing Song

Mengqing Song

The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, School of Life Science and Technology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003 China

Search for more papers by this author
Dr. Songge Li

Dr. Songge Li

The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, School of Life Science and Technology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003 China

Search for more papers by this author
Prof. Hongli Chen

Prof. Hongli Chen

The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, School of Life Science and Technology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003 China

Search for more papers by this author
Prof. Dan Ding

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dan Ding

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, and College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 13 October 2021
Citations: 77

Graphical Abstract

We report an alkaline phosphatase (ALP)-responsive lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) inducer, which can specifically accumulate in cancer cell lysosomes for evoking immunogenic cell death (ICD) and converting immunologically cold tumors into hot tumors.

Abstract

Lysosome-relevant cell death induced by lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) has recently attracted increasing attention. However, nearly no studies show that currently available LMP inducers can evoke immunogenic cell death (ICD) or convert immunologically cold tumors to hot. Herein, we report a LMP inducer named TPE-Py-pYK(TPP)pY, which can respond to alkaline phosphatase (ALP), leading to formation of nanoassembies along with fluorescence and singlet oxygen turn-on. TPE-Py-pYK(TPP)pY tends to accumulate in ALP-overexpressed cancer cell lysosomes as well as induce LMP and rupture of lysosomal membranes to massively evoke ICD. Such LMP-induced ICD effectively converts immunologically cold tumors to hot as evidenced by abundant CD8+ and CD4+ T cells infiltration into the cold tumors. Exposure of ALP-catalyzed nanoassemblies in cancer cell lysosomes to light further intensifies the processes of LMP, ICD and cold-to-hot tumor conversion. This work thus builds a new bridge between lysosome-relevant cell death and cancer immunotherapy.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.