Cell specific delivery of modified mRNA expressing therapeutic proteins to leukocytes

Therapeutic alteration of gene expression in vivo can be achieved by delivering nucleic acids (e.g., mRNA, siRNA) using nanoparticles. Recent progress in modified messenger RNA (mmRNA) synthesis facilitated the development of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) loaded with mmRNA as a promising tool for in vivo protein expression. Although progress have been made with mmRNA-LNPs based protein expression in hepatocytes, cell specificity is still a major challenge. Moreover, selective protein expression is essential for an improved therapeutic effect, due to the heterogeneous nature of diseases. Here, we present a precision protein expression strategy in Ly6c⁺ inflammatory leukocytes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) induced mice. We demonstrate a therapeutic effect in an IBD model by targeted expression of the interleukin 10 in Ly6c⁺ inflammatory leukocytes. A selective mmRNA expression strategy has tremendous therapeutic potential in IBD and can ultimately become a novel therapeutic modality in many other diseases.