Programmable Lipid Nanoparticle Targeting via Corona Engineering
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are a versatile platform for in vivo delivery of biomolecules, yet systemically administered LNPs predominantly accumulate in the liver, limiting extrahepatic applications. This tropism arises from LNP adsorption of serum proteins, particularly apolipoprotein E (ApoE), which binds to LDL receptors (LDLR) on hepatocytes. Here, we overcome this tropism with two compatible strategies. First, we engineer dead ApoE mutants (dApoE) with five receptor-binding domain substitutions that selectively disrupt the ApoE-LDLR interaction but retain lipid binding. In cultured cells, pre-coating with these dApoE markedly inhibited LDLR-mediated uptake. Second, we pretreat cells with hyperactive PCSK9 (haPCSK9) to internalize surface LDLR, similarly reducing the LDLR-mediate uptake of LNPs. In vivo, both strategies substantially reduced liver LNP transduction without inducing redistribution to other major organs. To retarget LNP to new cell types we combined antibody conjugation with dApoE or haPCSK9, effectively engineering tropism to T cells, brain and lung tissues in vivo with substantially reduced hepatic background. In pilot studies, this strategy enabled specific delivery of reporter mRNAs to additional tissues, including megakaryocytes, hematopoietic progenitor cells, and cardiac tissue, and in aged T cells, to deliver miRNA cargos that produced a sustained reduction in DNA damage markers following a single systemic dose. dApoE coated CD5-targeted LNPs generated CAR+ T cells that retained cytotoxicity against CD19+ targets, while simultaneously reducing hepatocyte transduction by 90%. These findings establish a modular framework that integrates dApoE and haPCSK9-mediated detargeting with antibody-based retargeting, allowing for improvements in LNP specificity and broadening the therapeutic scope of LNPs.