Publication

Nanotechnology enabled modulation of T cell immunity for cancer treatment

Xiaomeng Hu
2023
EPFL thesis
Abstract

Recent breakthroughs in cancer immunotherapy, exemplified by immune checkpoint blockade and CAR T cell therapy, have achieved remarkable clinical success. However, the majority of cancer patients fail to respond to immunotherapy or suffer from relapse. Nanotechnology shows promise in enhancing current immunotherapies through targeted delivery of anti-cancer vaccines and immune modulators to specific cells or tissues. In my Ph.D. thesis, I developed several nanotechnology-enabled delivery systems to enhance immunotherapies' efficacy and safety, including personalized vaccines and mRNA-based therapy. I developed the polycondensate-epitope vaccine (PEV) platform for lymph node-targeted delivery of MHC I and II-restricted peptides, which elicited potent antitumor T cell immunity. The PEV vaccine induced robust and long-lasting antigen-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell responses in mice. In addition, I found the combination of PEV vaccine and a half-life-extended interleukin-10–Fc fusion protein reinvigorated exhausted T cells and restored their cytotoxic function and proliferative capacity in mouse tumor models. Finally, I employed a localized delivery strategy using lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA that encoded IL-10 to achieve local and durable metabolic reprogramming of tumor-infiltrating T cells for enhanced anti-cancer immunotherapy. These nanotechnology-enabled immunotherapies show the promise to further improve patients’ response rates.

About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related concepts (37)
Cancer immunotherapy
Cancer immunotherapy (sometimes called immuno-oncology) is the stimulation of the immune system to treat cancer, improving on the immune system's natural ability to fight the disease. It is an application of the fundamental research of cancer immunology and a growing subspecialty of oncology. Cancer immunotherapy exploits the fact that cancer cells often have tumor antigens, molecules on their surface that can be detected by the antibody proteins of the immune system, binding to them.
Cell-mediated immunity
Cell-mediated immunity or cellular immunity is an immune response that does not involve antibodies. Rather, cell-mediated immunity is the activation of phagocytes, antigen-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, and the release of various cytokines in response to an antigen. In the late 19th century Hippocratic tradition medicine system, the immune system was imagined into two branches: humoral immunity, for which the protective function of immunization could be found in the humor (cell-free bodily fluid or serum) and cellular immunity, for which the protective function of immunization was associated with cells.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies, while immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are classified as suppression immunotherapies. Immunotherapy is under preliminary research for its potential to treat various forms of cancer. Cell-based immunotherapies are effective for some cancers.
Show more
Related publications (62)

Exploration and modulation of mechanical cues for enhanced cancer immunotherapy

Armand Kurum

The advent of immunotherapy, such as immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and adoptive transfer of cytotoxic lymphocytes, has transformed the clinical care of cancer. However, a significant proportion of patients are resistant to immunotherapy or experience re ...
EPFL2024

Cytokine-armed dendritic cell progenitors for antigen-agnostic cancer immunotherapy

Ali Ghasemi

Dendritic cells (DCs) are specialized myeloid cells with the ability to uptake, process, andpresent antigens to T lymphocytes. They also generate cytokine and chemokine gradients thatregulate immune cell trafficking, activation, and function. Monocyte-deri ...
EPFL2024

Il-21 fusion proteins useful as enhancers of anti-cancer immunotherapies

Li Tang, Yugang Guo, Yi Wang

The present invention relates generally to the field of anti-cancer therapy, in particular to the use of agents or co-agents useful in anti-cancer immunotherapy such as adoptive T-cell transfer (ACT) immunotherapy and immune check-point blockades. ...
2024
Show more
Related MOOCs (14)
Introduction à l'immunologie (part 1)
Ce cours décrit les mécanismes fondamentaux du système immunitaire pour mieux comprendre les bases immunologiques dela vaccination, de la transplantation, de l’immunothérapie, de l'allergie et des mal
Show more

Graph Chatbot

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.