Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Publication Date

2-3-2025

Journal

Nature Communications

Abstract

Diet has emerged as a key impact factor for gut microbiota function. However, the complexity of dietary components makes it difficult to predict specific outcomes. Here we investigate the impact of plant-derived nanoparticles (PNP) on gut microbiota and metabolites in context of cancer immunotherapy with the humanized gnotobiotic mouse model. Specifically, we show that ginger-derived exosome-like nanoparticle (GELN) preferentially taken up by Lachnospiraceae and Lactobacillaceae mediated by digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG) and glycine, respectively. We further demonstrate that GELN aly-miR159a-3p enhances anti-PD-L1 therapy in melanoma by inhibiting the expression of recipient bacterial phospholipase C (PLC) and increases the accumulation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). An increased level of circulating DHA inhibits PD-L1 expression in tumor cells by binding the PD-L1 promoter and subsequently prevents c-myc-initiated transcription of PD-L1. Colonization of germ-free male mice with gut bacteria from anti-PD-L1 non-responding patients supplemented with DHA enhances the efficacy of anti-PD-L1 therapy compared to controls. Our findings reveal a previously unknown mechanistic impact of PNP on human tumor immunotherapy by modulating gut bacterial metabolic pathways.

Keywords

Humans, Animals, Nanoparticles, B7-H1 Antigen, Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Mice, Male, Docosahexaenoic Acids, Cell Line, Tumor, Melanoma, Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, Immunotherapy, MicroRNAs, Female, Germ-Free Life

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-56498-2

PMID

39900923

PMCID

PMC11790884

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

2-3-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes

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