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Updated: Jan 3, 2026
Monitoring Dendritic Cell Migration using 19F / 1H Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: March 20, 2013
Dendritic Cell-Activating Magnetic Nanoparticles Enable Early Prediction of Antitumor Response with Magnetic
Adam J Grippin1,2, Brandon Wummer1, Tyler Wildes1
1Preston A. Wells, Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy, UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, McKnight Brain Institute , University of Florida , 1149 Newell Drive , P.O. Box 10026, Gainesville , Florida 32610 , United States.
Abstract:
Cancer vaccines initiate antitumor responses in a subset of patients, but the lack of clinically meaningful biomarkers to predict treatment response limits their development. Here, we design multifunctional RNA-loaded magnetic liposomes to initiate potent antitumor immunity and function as an early biomarker of treatment response. These particles activate dendritic cells (DCs) more effectively than electroporation, leading to superior inhibition of tumor growth in treatment models. Inclusion of iron oxide enhances DC transfection and enables tracking of DC migration with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We show that T2*-weighted MRI intensity in lymph nodes is a strong correlation of DC trafficking and is an early predictor of antitumor response. In preclinical tumor models, MRI-predicted "responders" identified 2 days after vaccination had significantly smaller tumors 2-5 weeks after treatment and lived 73% longer than MRI-predicted "nonresponders". These studies therefore provide a simple, scalable nanoparticle formulation to generate robust antitumor immune responses and predict individual treatment outcome with MRI.
