| 講演者 |
(Lecture 1):
Betty Kim, MD, Ph.D,
Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
https://faculty.mdanderson.org/profiles/yonsonbetty_kim.html
(Lecture 2):
Wen Jiang, MD, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
https://faculty.mdanderson.org/profiles/wen_jiang.html |
| 概要 |
(Lecture 1):
Messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics are emerging as a versatile platform for regenerative medicine, oncology, and genetic disease correction, but their translation is limited by challenges in safe and efficient delivery. In this seminar, I will discuss our efforts to harness extracellular vesicles (EVs) as natural carriers for therapeutic mRNA. In our early work, we demonstrated that EV-mediated delivery of tumor suppressor mRNA could restore lost gene function and suppress tumor growth in preclinical cancer models (Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2020). We subsequently applied this strategy to regenerative medicine, showing that EVs loaded with mRNA encoding collagen stimulate dermal cells to produce new collagen and reduce skin wrinkles, highlighting opportunities in both cosmetic and therapeutic tissue repair (Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2023). Most recently, we are extending this platform to rare genetic disorders, with a focus on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), where delivery of full-length dystrophin mRNA via engineered EVs has produced encouraging preclinical results (manuscript under revision at Nature Biomedical Engineering). Together, these studies illustrate the translational promise of EV-mRNA therapeutics, showcasing a pipeline that spans cancer therapy, regenerative applications, and inherited diseases.
(Lecture 2):
Macrophages represent a central axis in cancer nanomedicine and immunotherapy: they can eliminate tumor cells through phagocytosis but also sequester therapeutic nanoparticles in the liver, limiting delivery. In this seminar, I will present engineering strategies to reprogram macrophage activity to selectively enhance antitumor immunity while reducing off-target clearance. I will begin with our development of MUSIC (Nature Nanotechnology 2022), an ultrasound-guided platform that delivers the STING agonist cGAMP into antigen-presenting cells with spatiotemporal precision to amplify innate immune activation. I will then discuss a microbial-inspired CD47-listeriolysin O (LLO) fusion (Nature Cancer 2025) that disrupts the “don’t eat me” checkpoint to drive robust tumor cell phagocytosis. Finally, I will highlight our recent work on MARCO blockade (Nature Nanotechnology 2023), which reduces hepatic macrophage uptake of nanoparticles and thereby enhances tumor delivery and therapeutic efficacy. Together, these efforts illustrate a convergent design strategy to reshape macrophage biology, transforming them from foes into allies for cancer nanomedicine and immunotherapy. |