Tumor-Targeted Cell-Penetrating Peptides Reveal That Monomethyl Auristatin E Temporally Modulates the Tumor Immune Microenvironment

Chemotherapies remain standard therapy for cancers but have limited efficacy and cause significant side effects, highlighting the need for targeted approaches. In the progression of cancer, tumors increase matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity. Leveraging and therapeutically redirecting tumor MMPs through activatable cell-penetrating peptide (ACPP) technology offers new approaches for tumor-selective drug delivery and for studying how drug payloads engage the tumor immune microenvironment. ACPPs are biosensing peptides consisting of a drug-conjugated polycationic cell-penetrating peptide masked by an autoinhibitory polyanionic peptide through an interlinking peptide linker. Since tumors overexpress MMPs, ACPP tumor-targeting is achieved using an MMP cleavable linker. Monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) is a potent anti-tubulin and common drug payload in antibody drug conjugates; however there are limited pre-clinical studies on how this clinically effective drug modulates the interplay of cancer cells and the immune system. Here, we report the versatility of ACPP conjugates in syngeneic murine cancer models and interrogate how MMAE temporally alters the tumor immune microenvironment. We show that cRGD-ACPP-MMAE preferentially delivered MMAE to tumors in murine models. Targeted cRGD-ACPP-MMAE demonstrated anti-tumor kill activity that activated the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system. Understanding how targeted MMAE engages tumors can optimize MMAE tumor kill activity and inform rational combinations with other cancer therapeutics.