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Bifunctional Phagocytic Synapse Enhancers for Cancer Immunotherapy

Sabatino, V.; Fleisch, S.; Tang, C.; Muller, F. M.; Labao-Almeida, C.; Khaw, W. T.; Hogan, S.; Hicks, D. R.; Fontes, M.; Coelho, A. R.; Yang, W.; Sarkar, I.; Shome, D.; Vidal, A. V.; Cabeza-Cabrerizo, M.; Rohm, T.; Reijmers, R. M.; Kaymak, D.; Gerster, F.; Baker, D.; Fior, R.; Hutter, G.; Bernardes, G. J. L.

2025-03-15 cancer biology
10.1101/2025.03.13.642658 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Immunotherapy profoundly impacted cancer treatments by harnessing the patients immune system. Phagocytosis, the process whereby immune cells engulf and destroy foreign particles or cells, plays a critical role in tumour cell clearance. Herein, we introduce a novel concept termed "ENPHASYS" - Enhancement of Phagocytic Synapses - designed to direct and amplify phagocytosis of cancer cells using heterobifunctional molecules named phagocytic synapse enhancers (PSEs). By engineering a de novo PD-L1 binder linked to a natural phagocytosis promoting peptide, tuftsin, the resulting PSE combines PD-L1 blockade with enhanced tumour cell phagocytosis; in addition, the PSEs induce macrophages to internalize a membrane or extracellular target. Intratumoural treatment of colorectal carcinoma- or glioblastoma-burdened immunocompetent animals resulted in beneficial overall survival, delayed tumour growth and a potent antitumor response driven by T-cell activation and TAM reprogramming, underpinning the translational relevance of ENPHASYS. Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=118 SRC="FIGDIR/small/642658v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (19K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1673fd4org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@18fa319org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@11cf680org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@7b8784_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

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