Selective activation and expansion of regulatory T cells using lipid encapsulated mRNA encoding a long-acting IL-2 mutein

Seymour Picciotto (), Nicholas DeVita, Chiaowen Joyce Hsiao, Christopher Honan, Sze-Wah Tse, Mychael Nguyen, Joseph D. Ferrari, Wei Zheng, Brian T. Wipke and Eric Huang ()
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Seymour Picciotto: Moderna, Inc
Nicholas DeVita: Moderna, Inc
Chiaowen Joyce Hsiao: Moderna, Inc
Christopher Honan: Moderna, Inc
Sze-Wah Tse: Moderna, Inc
Mychael Nguyen: Moderna, Inc
Joseph D. Ferrari: Moderna, Inc
Wei Zheng: Moderna, Inc
Brian T. Wipke: Moderna, Inc
Eric Huang: Moderna, Inc

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is critical for regulatory T cell (Treg) function and homeostasis. At low doses, IL-2 can suppress immune pathologies by expanding Tregs that constitutively express the high affinity IL-2Rα subunit. However, even low dose IL-2, signaling through the IL2-Rβ/γ complex, may lead to the activation of proinflammatory, non-Treg T cells, so improving specificity toward Tregs may be desirable. Here we use messenger RNAs (mRNA) to encode a half-life-extended human IL-2 mutein (HSA-IL2m) with mutations promoting reliance on IL-2Rα. Our data show that IL-2 mutein subcutaneous delivery as lipid-encapsulated mRNA nanoparticles selectively activates and expands Tregs in mice and non-human primates, and also reduces disease severity in mouse models of acute graft versus host disease and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Single cell RNA-sequencing of mouse splenic CD4+ T cells identifies multiple Treg states with distinct response dynamics following IL-2 mutein treatment. Our results thus demonstrate the potential of mRNA-encoded HSA-IL2m immunotherapy to treat autoimmune diseases.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31130-9

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