398269 Injectable Thermo-Sensitive Hydrogel As an Adjuvant: In Situ Modulation of Dendritic Cells for Cancer Vaccine

Tuesday, November 18, 2014: 1:06 PM
International 7 (Marriott Marquis Atlanta)
Yarong Liu1, Kye Il Joo2, Liang Xiao1 and Pin Wang2, (1)Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, (2)Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Attempts to develop cell-based cancer vaccines have shown limited efficacy due to the failure of transplanted dendritic cells (DCs) to survive long enough to reach the lymph nodes. The development of materials that can modulate DCs in situ to enhance antigen uptake and presentation has emerged as a novel method toward developing high quality cancer vaccines. Here, we propose a two-step hybrid strategy to produce a more robust cell-based cancer vaccine in situ.  First, a significant number of DCs are recruited to an injectable thermo-sensitive mPEG-PLGA hydrogel through sustained release of chemo-attractants, like granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF).  Then, these resident DCs can be loaded with cancer antigens through the use of viral or non-viral vectors. We demonstrate that GM-CSF releasing mPEG-PLGA  hydrogels successfully recruit and house DCs and macrophages, allowing  subsequent introduction of antigens by vectors to activate the resident cells,  thus  initiating antigen presentation and boosting immune response. Moreover, this two-step  hybrid  strategy  generates a high level of specific anti-tumor immunity demonstrated  in  both prophylactic and therapeutic models of melanoma. This  injectable thermo-sensitive hydrogel shows great promise as an adjuvant for cancer vaccines, potentially providing a new approach for cell therapies through in situ modulation of cells.

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See more of this Session: Biomaterials: Graduate Student Award Session
See more of this Group/Topical: Materials Engineering and Sciences Division