Synthetic polypeptides inhibit nucleic acid-induced inflammation in autoimmune diseases by disrupting multivalent TLR9 binding to LL37-DNA bundles

Complexes of extracellular nucleic acids (NAs) with endogenous proteins or peptides, such as LL37, break immune balance and cause autoimmune diseases, whereas NAs with arginine-enriched peptides do not. Inspired by this, we synthesize a polyarginine nanoparticle PEG-TK-NP_Arg, which effectively inhibits Toll-like receptor-9 (TLR9) activation, in contrast to LL37. To explore the discrepancy effect of PEG-TK-NP_Arg and LL37, we evaluate the periodic structure of PEG-TK-NP_Arg-NA and LL37-NA complexes using small-angle X-ray scattering. LL37-NA complexes have a larger inter-NA spacing that accommodates TLR9, while the inter-NA spacing in PEG-TK-NP_Arg-NA complexes mismatches with the cavity of TLR9, thus inhibiting an interaction with multiple TLR9s, limiting their clustering and damping immune induction. Subsequently, the inhibitory inflammation effect of PEG-TK-NP_Arg is proved in an animal model of rheumatoid arthritis. This work on how the scavenger-NA complexes inhibit the immune response may facilitate proof-of-concept research translating to clinical application.