PLGA from PolySciTech used in development of cancer immunotherapy platform

 

Immunotherapy is a process by which the immune system is triggered to attack the cancer cells directly. Researchers at Sungkyunkwan University used PLGA from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) to create microparticles encapsulated with tumor lysate as a means to initiate an immune response against the cancer. This research holds promise to improve immunotherapy against cancer. Read more: Lee, Jae Ah, Jung Min Shin, Seok Ho Song, Chan Ho Kim, Soyoung Son, Sol Shin, and Jae Hyung Park. "Recruitment of dendritic cells using ‘find-me’ signaling microparticles for personalized cancer immunotherapy." Biomaterials (2022): 121412. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0142961222000515

“Abstract: Therapeutic cancer vaccines have attracted attention because of their potential to prime cytotoxic T cells, which are highly antigen (Ag)-specific, allowing personalized cancer immunotherapy. However, because of their low immunogenicity, cancer vaccines have been used in only a few types of cancers in clinics, primarily because of the poor Ag presentation of dendritic cells (DCs). To address these limitations of cancer vaccines, we show that ‘find-me’ signaling polymeric microparticles (F-PMs) bearing tumor lysate as an Ag can efficiently recruit DCs and facilitate antigen presentation. When subcutaneously injected into tumor-bearing mice, F-PMs significantly increased mature DCs in tumor-draining lymph nodes by eliciting adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-induced chemotaxis, resulting in high antitumor efficacy. CD8+ cytotoxic T cells were remarkably enriched in the tumor microenvironment following co-administration of an immune checkpoint inhibitor with F-PMs. We demonstrated that F-PMs elicit a robust antitumor immune response, which may provide a promising therapeutic option for cancer treatment.”