In vivo gold nanoparticle delivery of peptide vaccine induces anti-tumor immune response in prophylactic and therapeutic tumor models.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are promising vehicles for cancer immunotherapy, with demonstrated efficacy in immune delivery and innate cell stimulation. Nevertheless, their potential has yet to be assessed in the in vivo application of peptide cancer vaccines. In this study, it is hypothesized that the immune distribution and adjuvant qualities of AuNPs could be leveraged to facilitate delivery of the ovalbumin (OVA) peptide antigen and the CpG adjuvant and enhance their therapeutic effect in a B16-OVA tumor model.

In vivo immune cell distribution of gold nanoparticles in naïve and tumor bearing mice.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNP) have been widely used for drug delivery and have recently been explored for applications in cancer immunotherapy. Although AuNPs are known to accumulate heavily in the spleen, the particle distribution within immune cells has not been thoroughly studied. Here, cellular distribution of Cy5 labeled 50 nm AuNPs is characterized within the immune populations of the spleen from naïve and tumor bearing mice using flow cytometry.

Gold nanoparticle mediated cancer immunotherapy.

Unlabelled: Significant progress has been made in the field of cancer immunotherapy, where the goal is to activate or modulate the body's immune response against cancer. However, current immunotherapy approaches exhibit limitations of safety and efficacy due to systemic delivery. In this context, the use of nanotechnology for the delivery of cancer vaccines and immune adjuvants presents a number of advantages such as targeted delivery to immune cells, enhanced therapeutic effect, and reduced adverse outcomes.

Gold nanoparticle delivery of modified CpG stimulates macrophages and inhibits tumor growth for enhanced immunotherapy.

Gold nanoparticle accumulation in immune cells has commonly been viewed as a side effect for cancer therapeutic delivery; however, this phenomenon can be utilized for developing gold nanoparticle mediated immunotherapy. Here, we conjugated a modified CpG oligodeoxynucleotide immune stimulant to gold nanoparticles using a simple and scalable self-assembled monolayer scheme that enhanced the functionality of CpG in vitro and in vivo. Nanoparticles can attenuate systemic side effects by enhancing CpG delivery passively to innate effector cells.

High-density sub-100-nm peptide-gold nanoparticle complexes improve vaccine presentation by dendritic cells in vitro.

Nanocarriers have been explored to improve the delivery of tumor antigens to dendritic cells (DCs). Gold nanoparticles are attractive nanocarriers because they are inert, non-toxic, and can be readily endocytosed by DCs. Here, we designed novel gold-based nanovaccines (AuNVs) using a simple self-assembling bottom-up conjugation method to generate high-peptide density delivery and effective immune responses with limited toxicity.

Depth-sensitive reflectance measurements using obliquely oriented fiber probes.

Computer simulation is used to facilitate the design of fiber-probe geometries that enable enhanced detection of optical signals arising from specific tissue depths. Obtaining understanding of the relationship between fiber-probe design and tissue interrogation is critical when developing strategies for optical detection of epithelial precancers that originate at known depths from the tissue surface. The accuracy of spectroscopic diagnostics may be enhanced by discretely probing the optical properties of epithelium and underlying stroma, within which the morphological and biochemical features vary as a function of depth.