Integrated Nanovaccine with MicroRNA-148a Inhibition Reprograms Tumor-Associated Dendritic Cells by Modulating miR-148a/DNMT1/SOCS1 Axis

Immunosuppressive tumor-associated dendritic cells (TADCs) are potential targets for cancer therapy. However, their poor responsiveness to TLR stimulation is a major obstacle for achieving successful cancer immunotherapy. In the current study, we reported a dysregulated miR-148a/DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) 1/suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) 1 axis as a unique mechanism for dampened TLR stimulation in TADCs. The results showed that aberrantly elevated miR-148a in bone marrow-derived TADC (BM-TADC) abolished polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) or LPS-induced dendritic cell maturation through directly suppressing DNMT1 gene, which consequently led to the hypomethylation and upregulation of SOCS1, the suppressor of TLR signaling. In contrast, miR-148a inhibitor (miR-148ai) effectively rescued the expression of DNMT1 and decreased SOCS1 in BM-TADCs, thereby recovering their sensitivity to TLR3 or TLR4 stimulation. To further reprogram TADCs in vivo, miR-148ai was coencapsulated with poly I:C and OVA by cationic polypeptide micelles to generate integrated polypeptide micelle/poly I:C (PMP)/OVA/148ai nanovaccine, which was designed to simultaneously inhibit miR-148a and activate TLR3 signaling in TADCs. The immunization of PMP/OVA/148ai nanovaccine not only effectively modulated the miR-148a/DNMT1/SOCS1 axis in the spleen, but also significantly increased mature dendritic cells both in the spleen and in tumor microenvironment. Moreover, PMP/OVA/148ai ameliorated tumor immunosuppression through reducing regulatory T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells, thereby leading to potent anticancer immune responses and robust tumor regression with prolonged survival. This study proposes a nanovaccine-based immunogene therapy with the integration of miR-148a inhibition and TLR3 stimulation as a novel therapeutic approach to boost anticancer immunity by reprogramming TADCs in vivo.