An Intravesical <i>Akkermansia muciniphila</i> ‐Based Chemo‐Immunotherapeutic Platform for Bladder Cancer

ABSTRACT Bladder cancer (BC) is a highly recurrent urinary malignancy for which current intravesical immunotherapy and chemotherapy are limited by insufficient efficacy, toxicity, excessive inflammation, and drug resistance. The probiotic Akkermansia muciniphila (AKK), known for its ability to modulate immune responses and suppress pathological inflammation, provides a promising immunomodulatory component to address these limitations. Here, an intravesical bacteria‐based chemo‐immunotherapeutic platform is developed by loading doxorubicin (DOX) onto pasteurized AKK modified with F127, yielding AKK‐F127/DOX (AF/D). Compared with free DOX, AF/D more effectively inhibits bladder cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while inducing apoptosis, ferroptosis, immunogenic cell death, and suppressing the NF‐κB inflammatory pathway. AF/D also promotes dendritic‐cell maturation, pro‐inflammatory cytokine secretion, M1‐like macrophage polarization, antigen cross‐presentation, and tumor‐specific CD8 + T‐cell priming. In orthotopic bladder cancer models, intravesical AF/D shows superior antitumor efficacy and survival benefits over single‐agent treatments, remodels the local immune microenvironment, enhances systemic antigen‐specific CD8 + T‐cell responses in the spleen, and maintains a favorable safety profile. These findings establish AF/D as a promising intravesical chemo‐immunotherapeutic strategy for bladder cancer.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Science
Published
2026-08-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.77241
Primary Topic
Bladder and Urothelial Cancer Treatments
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

An Intravesical Akkermansia muciniphila ‐Based Chemo‐Immunotherapeutic Platform for Bladder Cancer

Xiqi Peng, Jiadong Zhao, Shaohua Zhang, Dashi Deng et al.
Advanced Science
Bladder and Urothelial Cancer Treatments
article

An Intravesical Akkermansia muciniphila ‐Based Chemo‐Immunotherapeutic Platform for Bladder Cancer

Xiqi Peng, Jiadong Zhao, Shaohua Zhang, Dashi Deng, Anguo Zhao, Qi Zhuang, Rui Liang, Song Wu, Rongkang Li, Peng Yu, Yang Liu, Lei Peng
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Bladder cancer (BC) is a highly recurrent urinary malignancy for which current intravesical immunotherapy and chemotherapy are limited by insufficient efficacy, toxicity, excessive inflammation, and drug resistance. The probiotic Akkermansia muciniphila (AKK), known for its ability to modulate immune responses and suppress pathological inflammation, provides a promising immunomodulatory component to address these limitations. Here, an intravesical bacteria‐based chemo‐immunotherapeutic platform is developed by loading doxorubicin (DOX) onto pasteurized AKK modified with F127, yielding AKK‐F127/DOX (AF/D). Compared with free DOX, AF/D more effectively inhibits bladder cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while inducing apoptosis, ferroptosis, immunogenic cell death, and suppressing the NF‐κB inflammatory pathway. AF/D also promotes dendritic‐cell maturation, pro‐inflammatory cytokine secretion, M1‐like macrophage polarization, antigen cross‐presentation, and tumor‐specific CD8 + T‐cell priming. In orthotopic bladder cancer models, intravesical AF/D shows superior antitumor efficacy and survival benefits over single‐agent treatments, remodels the local immune microenvironment, enhances systemic antigen‐specific CD8 + T‐cell responses in the spleen, and maintains a favorable safety profile. These findings establish AF/D as a promising intravesical chemo‐immunotherapeutic strategy for bladder cancer.

Advanced Science
Soochow University (CN), Lanzhou University Second Hospital (CN), Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University (CN), University of Hong Kong - Shenzhen Hospital (CN), Southern Medical University Shenzhen Hospital (CN), Shenzhen University Health Science Center (CN), First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University (CN), Lanzhou University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Program
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Bladder and Urothelial Cancer Treatments
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