Lipidoid Nanoparticles Containing PD-L1 siRNA Delivered In Vivo Enter Kupffer Cells and Enhance NK and CD8(+) T Cell-mediated Hepatic Antiviral Immunity

Effective clinical application of antiviral immunotherapies necessitates enhancing the functional state of natural killer (NK) and CD8(+) T cells. An important mechanism for the establishment of viral persistence in the liver is the activation of the PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitory pathway. To examine the role of hepatic myeloid PD-L1 expression during viral infection, we determined the magnitude and quality of antiviral immune responses by administering PD-L1 short-interfering RNA (siRNA) encapsulated in lipidoid nanoparticles (LNP) in mice. Our studies indicate that Kupffer cells (KC) preferentially engulfed PD-L1 LNP within a short period of time and silenced Pdl1 during adenovirus and MCMV infection leading to enhanced NK and CD8(+) T cell intrahepatic accumulation, effector function (interferon (IFN)-γ and granzyme B (GrB) production), CD8(+) T cell–mediated viral clearance, and memory. Our results demonstrate that PD-L1 knockdown on KCs is central in determining the outcome of liver viral infections, and they represent a new class of gene therapy.