Nanoparticle Delivery of Immunostimulatory Alu RNA for Cancer Immunotherapy

Loss of A-to-I editing leads to accumulation of unedited Alu RNAs that activate innate immunity via RNA-sensing pattern recognition receptors. When packaged into endosome-releasing polymer nanoparticles, AluJB RNA becomes highly immunostimulatory and can be used pharmacologically to inhibit tumor growth in mouse melanoma models. These findings identify Alu RNAs as a new class of nucleic acid innate immune agonists for cancer immunotherapy.