Recombination Monophosphoryl Lipid A-Derived Vacosome for the Development of Preventive Cancer Vaccines

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increasing interest for utilizing the host immune system to fight against cancer. Moreover, cancer vaccines, which can stimulate the host immune system to respond to cancer in the long term, are being investigated as a promising approach to induce tumor-specific immunity. In this work, we prepared an effective cancer vaccine (denoted as “vacosome”) by reconstructing the cancer cell membrane, monophosphoryl lipid A as a toll-like receptor 4 agonist, and egg phosphatidylcholine. The vacosome triggered and enhanced bone marrow dendritic cell maturation as well as stimulated the antitumor response against breast cancer 4T1 cells in vitro . Furthermore, an immune memory was established in BALB/c mice after three-time preimmunization with the vacosome. After that, the immunized mice showed inhibited tumor growth and prolonged survival period (longer than 50 days). Overall, our results demonstrate that the vacosome can be a potential candidate for clinical translation as a cancer vaccine.

Harnessing Engineered Immune Cells and Bacteria as Drug Carriers for Cancer Immunotherapy

“…There have emerged some designs of on-demand live cell vectors which are respectively controlled by lenalidomide and light. , They exhibit controllable action properties and no less potent tumor-killing ability. Some research simply uses the attenuated immunostimulatory molecules derived from these bioactive vectors, such as MPLA, , to treat tumors while avoiding the possible side effects of complex ingredients. For off-target toxicity, some cancer selective technologies like aptamers and nanobodies have also been employed to enhance these carriers’ tumor-specific targeting.…”

Cancer cell membrane-wrapped nanoparticles for cancer immunotherapy: A review of current developments

“…Likewise, Cheng et al. produced a cancer vaccine by reconstructing the CCM and using monophosphoryl lipid A as a Toll-like receptor 4 agonist along with egg phosphatidylcholine; this vaccine could significantly enhance immune response and establish immune memory against a 4T1 challenge ( 69 ). The above two studies have provided promising candidates for the clinical translation of cancer vaccines.…”

Cell-derived biomimetic nanocarriers for targeted cancer therapy: cell membranes and extracellular vesicles

“…The presence of tumor-specific antigens on the CCM enables MPLA to activate the corresponding receptors and increase the activity of antigen-presenting cells (APCs), thereby activating CD8 + T lymphocytes (TLs) to destroy tumors. The CCM in Vacosome is obtained from the tumor cells of patients after surgery, and thus the development of Vacosome is more personalized and more widely used in cancer immunotherapy (Cheng et al, 2020 ). At present, nanovaccines are still in the early stage, some problems remain to be solved (for example, the antigens on the membrane may be degraded in the complex physiological environment), and the effectiveness of their use must be optimized.…”

“… Process used to fabricate the vacosome and the immune response induced by the vacosome in vivo . Reproduced with permission from reference (Cheng et al, 2020 ). …”