ArticleNature communications2019
Genetic programming of macrophages to perform anti-tumor functions using targeted mRNA nanocarriers.
Article in Nature communications, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 279 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
279 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 490 citations in OpenAlex.
- Role of m5C methylation in digestive system tumors (Review).Molecular medicine reports · 2025Pooled it
- Targeted drug delivery system for ovarian cancer microenvironment: Improving the effects of immunotherapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Pooled it
- Delivering the blueprint: Advances and challenges in mRNA therapeutics for the respiratory system.International journal of pharmaceutics: X · 2026Review
- Multifaceted roles of chemokines in gastric cancer: From tumor microenvironment modulation to therapeutic targeting (Review).Oncology letters · 2026Review
- Targeting myeloid cell plasticity and metabolic reprogramming to alleviate T cell dysfunction and exhaustion-associated states and enhance immune checkpoint blockade therapy.Biomarker research · 2026Review
- Magnetotactic bacterial-reprogrammed TCR-macrophages for durable anti-tumor photoimmune therapy.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Current landscape and future directions of neoantigen vaccines: A new era of personalized cancer immunotherapy.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2026Review
- Next-generation macrophage engineering in cancer therapy: From TAM reprogramming to CAR-macrophages.Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2026Review
- Nanomaterial-mediated functional remodeling of antigen-presenting cells: A novel strategy to break tumor immune escape.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Review
- The polymeric nanovectors landscape for cancer immunotherapies towards advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs).Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Review
- Chimeric IL-6/4R-LL37 Engineered Macrophages Achieve Synchronized Inflammation Control and Antimicrobial Defence in Sepsis.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Enabling Technologies in Vascular Biology: Microphysiological Systems, Organoids, and Beyond.Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology · 2026Review
- Enhanced tumor immunotherapy by nanovesicles derived from engineered DC-like M1 macrophage.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Article
- Nanotechnology-mediated precision delivery of mRNA.Nature materials · 2026Review
- Review
- Reprogramming CD22 CAR-T cells in vivo using CD8-targeted mRNA-LNPs to treat hematological malignancies.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2026Article
- Polymer-mRNA complexes for monocyte-trafficked, lymph node-targeted cancer vaccination.Nature biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- TAMs in the Gynecological Tumor Microenvironment: Insights from Cross-Cancer Studies for Immunotherapy.Cancers · 2026Review
- Self-assembling protein nanoparticles for cytosolic delivery of nucleic acids and proteins.Nature biotechnology · 2026Article
- HBx Induces the Production of N-GPC3 in Hepatoma Cells to Promote the Evasion of Macrophage Phagocytosis Through Activating Furin.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2026Article
219 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) usually express an M2 phenotype, which enables them to perform immunosuppressive and tumor-promoting functions. Reprogramming these TAMs toward an M1 phenotype could thwart their pro-cancer activities and unleash anti-tumor immunity, but efforts to accomplish this are nonspecific and elicit systemic inflammation. Here we describe a targeted nanocarrier that can deliver in vitro-transcribed mRNA encoding M1-polarizing transcription factors to reprogram TAMs without causing systemic toxicity. We demonstrate in models of ovarian cancer, melanoma, and glioblastoma that infusions of nanoparticles formulated with mRNAs encoding interferon regulatory factor 5 in combination with its activating kinase IKKβ reverse the immunosuppressive, tumor-supporting state of TAMs and reprogram them to a phenotype that induces anti-tumor immunity and promotes tumor regression. We further establish that these nanoreagents are safe for repeated dosing. Implemented in the clinic, this immunotherapy could enable physicians to obviate suppressive tumors while avoiding systemic treatments that disrupt immune homeostasis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.