Hierarchical self-uncloaking CRISPR-Cas13a–customized RNA nanococoons for spatial-controlled genome editing and precise cancer therapy

Abstract

CRISPR-Cas13a holds enormous potential for developing precise RNA editing. However, spatial manipulation of CRISPR-Cas13a activity remains a daunting challenge for elaborately regulating localized RNase function. Here, we designed hierarchical self-uncloaking CRISPR-Cas13a–customized RNA nanococoons (RNCOs-D), featuring tumor-specific recognition and spatial-controlled activation of Cas13a, for precise cancer synergistic therapy. RNCOs-D consists of programmable RNA nanosponges (RNSs) capable of targeted delivery and caging chemotherapeutic drug, and nanocapsules (NCs) anchored on RNSs for cloaking Cas13a/crRNA ribonucleoprotein (Cas13a RNP) activity. The acidic endo/lysosomal microenvironment stimulates the outer decomposition of NCs with concomitant Cas13a RNP activity revitalization, while the inner disassembly through trans-cleavage of RNSs initiated by cis-recognition and cleavage of EGFR variant III (EGFRvIII) mRNA. RNCOs-D demonstrates the effective EGFRvIII mRNA silencing for synergistic therapy of glioblastoma cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. The engineering of RNSs, together with efficient Cas13a activity regulation, holds immense prospect for multimodal and synergistic cancer therapy.