Funding
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
National Key Research and Development Program of China (NKPs)
Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province (Key R&D plan of Zhejiang Province)
Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (ZJNSF)
Agricultural and Social Development Research Project of Hangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Bureau
The Zhejiang Leading Innovation and Entrepreneurship Team
The Key Laboratory of Prevention, Diagnosis and Therapy of Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer of Zhejiang Province
Zhejiang Provincial Research Center for Upper Gastrointestinal Track Center
State Key Laboratory of Drug Regulatory Science projection
ARTICLE ABSTRACT
Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) is a transformative HER2-targeting antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) for treating breast cancer. Unfortunately, T-DXd has also been implicated in causing fatal interstitial lung disease (ILD) in multiple clinical trials. A better understanding of the mechanistic basis of these ADC-induced adverse effects could enable development of strategies to prevent or treat T-DXd–related ILD. In this study, we determined that T-DXd–induced ILD represents an off-target adverse event rather than an on-target off-tumor adverse event. To further investigate this phenomenon, an immunocompetent murine model that recapitulates T-DXd–induced ILD events was developed, facilitating in-depth mechanistic studies. Single-cell RNA sequencing in this model implicated alveolar macrophages (AM) as the primary cell type impacted by T-DXd in the lung microenvironment. Intravital microscopy further revealed that AMs resident in perivascular niches directly engulfed blood-circulating T-DXd via Fc–FcγR engagement. This Fc–FcγR interaction with T-DXd triggered a phenotypic shift in AMs from an immunosuppressive to a pro-ILD state, characterized by inflammation and immune activation, mediated through the SPP1 pathways. Finally, mitigating nonspecific T-DXd uptake in the lung by preconditioning perivascular AMs with IgG1 or the parental antibody of T-DXd significantly reduced unintended ADC absorption. These findings elucidate a mechanism by which T-DXd ignites the lung immune microenvironment and underscore the importance of off-target endocytosis by innate immune cells in the development of ADC-related toxicities.Significance: Preconditioning the perivascular niche can prevent lung inflammation induced by antibody-drug conjugate phagocytosis by alveolar macrophages and subsequent SPP1high macrophage differentiation, providing a clinically viable strategy for mitigating interstitial lung disease.
