In Situ Synthesis of an Immune-Checkpoint Blocker from Engineered Bacteria Elicits a Potent Antitumor Response

Abstract

Immune-checkpoint blockade (ICB) reinvigorates T cells from exhaustion and potentiates T-cell responses to tumors. However, most patients do not respond to ICB therapy, and only a limited response can be achieved in a "cold" tumor with few infiltrated lymphocytes. Synthetic biology can be used to engineer bacteria as controllable bioreactors to synthesize biotherapeutics