Nanoengineered Disruption of Heat Shock Protein 90 Targets Drug-Induced Resistance and Relieves Natural Killer Cell Suppression in Breast Cancer

Drug-induced resistance, or tolerance, is an emerging yet poorly understood failure of anticancer therapy. The interplay between drug-tolerant cancer cells and innate immunity within the tumor, the consequence on tumor growth, and therapeutic strategies to address these challenges remain undescribed. Here, we elucidate the role of taxane-induced resistance on natural killer (NK) cell tumor immunity in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and the design of spatiotemporally controlled nanomedicines, which boost therapeutic efficacy and invigorate “disabled” NK cells. Drug tolerance limited NK cell immune surveillance via drug-induced depletion of the NK-activating ligand receptor axis, NK group 2 member D, and MHC class I polypeptide-related sequence A, B. Systems biology supported by empirical evidence revealed the heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) simultaneously controls immune surveillance and persistence of drug-treated tumor cells. On the basis of this evidence, we engineered a “chimeric” nanotherapeutic tool comprising taxanes and a cholesterol-tethered Hsp90 inhibitor, radicicol, which targets the tumor, reduces tolerance, and optimally reprimes NK cells via prolonged induction of NK-activating ligand receptors via temporal control of drug release in vitro and in vivo. A human ex vivo TNBC model confirmed the importance of NK cells in drug-induced death under pressure of clinically approved agents. These findings highlight a convergence between drug-induced resistance, the tumor immune contexture, and engineered approaches that consider the tumor and microenvironment to improve the success of combinatorial therapy.

Significance: This study uncovers a molecular mechanism linking drug-induced resistance and tumor immunity and provides novel engineered solutions that target these mechanisms in the tumor and improve immunity, thus mitigating off-target effects.