Efficient internalization of peptide-conjugated SPIONs in dendritic cells for tumor targeting

Antigen delivery using nanoparticles becomes useful and novel strategy to develop immunotherapeutic approaches against cancer. In the current study, we examined the feasibility of SPIONs-mediated delivery of antigenic peptides to local tumor for application to cancer immunotherapy. SPIONs carrying murine melanoma antigens, hgp100(25-33) were prepared and used to test its efficacy in mouse model. Efficient uptake of peptide-conjugated SPIONs by murine dendritic cells (DCs) was shown, using NP labeled with the fluorescent dye Furthermore, potential targeting effect of SPIONs carrying tumor antigenic peptide was verified in vitro and in vivo. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of SPIONs-mediated antigen delivery for cancer immunotherapy and highlight the clinical potential of SPIONs for future cancer treatment with high efficacy.