Nanoparticles Could Improve Cancer Vaccines

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to new findings published in the journal ACS Nano, researchers have developed a novel approach to deliver cancer vaccines via stealthy nanoparticles.

The researchers found that this method successfully halted tumor growth when tested in mice. For the study, the researchers injected the nanoparticles into mice, and found that the particles entered the mice's lymph nodes while having no way of attracting the attention of circulating immune cells. Once inside the lymph nodes, a subset of macrophages engulfed the nanoparticles.

When the researchers inserted molecules that signal killer T cells into the nanoparticles, they found that tumor growth was inhibited much more compared with existing vaccines. The researchers say that most cancer vaccines in development are designed to attract macrophages and dendritic cells, which in turn signal killer T cells to attack cancer cells; however, this approach has not been greatly successful.

The team of researchers wanted to determine whether a subset of macrophages inside the lymph nodes could be activated by a cancer vaccine without attracting the attention of macrophages and dendritic cells that would use up the antibodies in the cancer vaccine. To do so, they hid them in stealthy nanoparticles.