NLRP3 agonist enhances radiation-induced immune priming and promotes abscopal responses in anti-PD1 resistant model

Radiotherapy (XRT), a well-known activator of the inflammasome and immune priming, is in part capable of reversing resistance to anti-PD1 treatment. The NLRP3 inflammasome is a pattern recognition receptor which is activated by both exogenous and endogenous stimuli, leading to a downstream inflammatory response. Although NLRP3 is typically recognized for its role in exacerbating XRT-induced tissue damage, the NLRP3 inflammasome can also yield an effective antitumor response when used in proper dosing and sequencing with XRT. However, whether NLRP3 agonist boosts radiation-induced immune priming and promote abscopal responses in anti-PD1 resistant model is still unknown. Therefore, in this study, we paired intratumoral injection of an NLRP3 agonist with XRT to stimulate the immune system in both wild type (344SQ-P) and anti-PD1 resistant (344SQ-R) murine-implanted lung adenocarcinoma models. We found that the combination of XRT + NLPR3 agonist enhanced the control of implanted lung adenocarcinoma primary as well as secondary tumors in a radiological dose-dependent manner, in which 12Gyx3 fractions of stereotactic XRT was better than 5Gyx3, while 1Gyx2 did not improve the NLRP3 effect. Survival and tumor growth data also showed significant abscopal response with the triple therapy (12Gyx3 + NLRP3 agonist + α-PD1) in both 344SQ-P and 344SQ-R aggressively growing models. Multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1b, IL-4, IL-12, IL-17, IFN-γ and GM-CSF) were elevated in the serum of mice treated with XRT + NLRP3 or triple therapy. The Nanostring results showed that NLRP3 agonist is capable of increasing antigen presentation, innate function, and T-cell priming. This study can be of particular importance to treat patients with immunologically-cold solid tumors whom are also refractory to prior checkpoint treatments. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00262-023-03471-x.