Superior Antitumor Immune Response Achieved With Proton Over Photon Immunoradiotherapy Is Amplified by the Nanoradioenhancer NBTXR3

Authors

Yun Hu
Sébastien Paris
Narayan Sahoo
Qi Wang
Qianxia Wang
Hampartsoum B Barsoumian
Ailing Huang
Jordan Da Silva
Célia Bienassis
Claudia S Kettlun Leyton
Tiffany A Voss
Fatemeh Masrorpour
Thomas Riad
Carola Leuschner
Nahum Puebla-Osorio
Saumil Gandhi
Quynh-Nhu Nguyen
Jing Wang
Maria Angelica Cortez
James W Welsh

Publication Date

10-1-2024

Journal

Journal of Nanobiotechnology

Abstract

Recent findings suggest that immunoradiotherapy (IRT), combining photon radiotherapy (XRT) or proton radiotherapy (PRT) with immune checkpoint blockade, can enhance systemic tumor control. However, the comparative efficacy of XRT and PRT in IRT remains understudied. To address this, we compared outcomes between XRT + αPD1 and PRT + αPD1 in murine αPD1-resistant lung cancer (344SQR). We also assessed the impact of the nanoparticle radioenhancer NBTXR3 on both XRT + αPD1 and PRT + αPD1 for tumor control and examined the tumor immune microenvironment using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq). Additionally, mice cured by NBTXR3 + PRT + αPD1 were rechallenged with three lung cancer cell lines to evaluate memory antitumor immunity. PRT + αPD1 showed superior local tumor control and abscopal effects compared to XRT + αPD1. NBTXR3 + PRT + αPD1 significantly outperformed NBTXR3 + XRT + αPD1 in tumor control, promoting greater infiltration of antitumor lymphocytes into irradiated tumors. Unirradiated tumors treated with NBTXR3 + PRT + αPD1 had more NKT cells, CD4 T cells, and B cells, with fewer Tregs, than those treated with NBTXR3 + XRT + αPD1. NBTXR3 + PRT + αPD1 also stimulated higher expression of IFN-γ, GzmB, and Nkg7 in lymphocytes, reduced the TGF-β pathway, and increased tumor necrosis factor alpha expression compared to NBTXR3 + XRT + αPD1. Moreover, NBTXR3 + PRT + αPD1 resulted in greater M1 macrophage polarization in both irradiated and unirradiated tumors. Mice achieving remission through NBTXR3 + PRT + αPD1 exhibited a robust memory immune response, effectively inhibiting growth of subsequent tumors from three distinct lung cancer cell lines. Proton IRT combined with NBTXR3 offers enhanced tumor control and survival rates over photon-based treatments in managing αPD1-resistant lung cancer, indicating its potential as a potent systemic therapy.

Keywords

Animals, Mice, Cell Line, Tumor, Tumor Microenvironment, Lung Neoplasms, Proton Therapy, Photons, Nanoparticles, Female, Radioimmunotherapy, Radiation-Sensitizing Agents, Humans

Comments

Supplementary Materials

Data Availability Statement

PMID: 39354474