Targeting lymph node sinus macrophages to inhibit lymph node metastasis

Abstract Lymph nodes are important peripheral immune organs in which numerous important immune responses occur. During the process of lymphatic metastasis, lymph nodes are also sites through which tumor cells must pass. Therefore, it is essential to develop a drug delivery system that can specifically transfer immunostimulatory medicine into lymph nodes to block lymphatic metastasis. Here, we developed a nucleic acid drug delivery system containing cationic agarose (C-agarose) and CpG oligodeoxynucleotides. C-agarose has a high affinity for Siglec-1 on the surface of lymph node sinus macrophages, which have a high specificity for targeting lymph nodes. Subcutaneous implantation of C-agarose+CpG gel caused the accumulation of CpG in the lymph node sinus macrophages and generated antitumor immune responses in the lymph node. C-agarose+CpG gel treatment decreased the metastasis size in the tumor-draining lymph node (TDLN) and lung metastatic nodules and suppressed tumor growth in both a mouse 4T1 breast cancer model and a B16F10 melanoma model. On this basis, this study proposes a nonsurgical invasive lymph node targeting immunotherapy concept that may provide a new approach for antitumor metastasis.