Department of Radiation Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
J Cell Mol Med. 2022 Feb;26(3):940-944. doi: 10.1111/jcmm.16885. Epub 2022 Jan 11.
Immunotherapy is an attractive approach for treating cancer. T-cell engagers (TCEs) are a type of immunotherapy that are highly efficacious; however, they are challenged by weak T-cell activation and short persistence. Therefore, alternative solutions to induce greater activation and persistence of T cells during TCE immunotherapy is needed. Methods to activate T cells include the use of lectins, such as phytohemagglutinin (PHA). PHA has not been used to activate T cells in vivo, for immunotherapy, due to its biological instability and toxicity. An approach to overcome the limitations of PHA while also preserving its function is needed. In this study, we report a liposomal PHA which increased PHA stability, reduced toxicity and performed as an immunotherapeutic that is able to activate T cells for the use in future cancer immunotherapies to circumvent current obstacles in immunosuppression and T-cell exhaustion.
免疫疗法是治疗癌症的一种有吸引力的方法。T 细胞衔接器（TCE）是一种高效的免疫疗法；然而，它们受到 T 细胞激活弱和持续时间短的挑战。因此，需要寻找替代方法来在 TCE 免疫疗法期间诱导 T 细胞更大的激活和持久性。激活 T 细胞的方法包括使用凝集素，如植物血球凝集素（PHA）。由于其生物不稳定性和毒性，PHA 尚未用于体内激活 T 细胞的免疫疗法。需要一种克服 PHA 局限性的同时又保留其功能的方法。在这项研究中，我们报告了一种脂质体 PHA，它增加了 PHA 的稳定性，降低了毒性，并作为一种免疫疗法，可以激活 T 细胞，用于未来的癌症免疫疗法，以规避当前免疫抑制和 T 细胞衰竭的障碍。
