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Updated: Dec 23, 2025
Tractable In Vivo Reprogramming of Tumor Cells to Type 1 Conventional Dendritic Cell-like Cells
Published on: August 1, 2025
Dendritic cells reprogrammed by CEA messenger RNA loaded multi-functional silica nanospheres for imaging-guided
Yue Hu1, Yuyin Tang, Xiao-Jing Zhang
1School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, P. R. China. dongzhu@njucm.edu.cn.
Abstract:
The application and understanding of dendritic cell (DC) based immune cancer therapy are largely hindered by insufficient or improper presentation of antigens and the inability to track the homing of reprogrammed DCs to draining lymph nodes in real-time. To tackle these challenges, multi-functional and hierarchically structured silica nanospheres are rationally designed and fabricated, which encapsulate quantum dots to permit near infrared deep tissue imaging and are loaded with carcinoembryonic antigen messenger RNA (CEAmRNA) to enable stable and abundant antigen expression in DCs. After being injected into animals and inducing an antigen-specific immune response, the homing process of reprogrammed labelled DCs from peripheral tissues to draining lymph nodes can be simultaneously and precisely tracked. Significant inhibition of tumor growth is achieved via strong antigen-specific immune responses including induced DC maturation, enhanced T cell proliferation and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated responses. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrate the high effectiveness of this new strategy of imaging-guided cancer immunotherapy by using reprogrammed DCs as immunotherapeutic and tracking agents.
Insights
This study introduces novel silica nanospheres for dendritic cell (DC) cancer therapy, enabling real-time tracking of DCs and enhancing immune responses for significant tumor growth inhibition.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Immunology
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Dendritic cell (DC) based cancer immunotherapy faces challenges in antigen presentation and real-time tracking of DC homing.
- Current methods lack efficient antigen delivery and in vivo monitoring of DC migration to lymph nodes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop multi-functional silica nanospheres for enhanced DC cancer therapy.
- To enable real-time imaging of DC homing and improve antigen presentation for robust immune responses.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of hierarchically structured silica nanospheres encapsulating quantum dots for imaging and carcinoembryonic antigen messenger RNA (CEAmRNA) for antigen expression.
- In vitro and in vivo evaluation of the nanospheres' effectiveness in DC reprogramming, immune response induction, and tumor growth inhibition.
Main Results:
- The nanospheres facilitated stable and abundant antigen expression in DCs.
- Real-time tracking of reprogrammed DC homing to draining lymph nodes was achieved.
- Significant tumor growth inhibition was observed due to enhanced antigen-specific immune responses, including DC maturation, T cell proliferation, and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity.
Conclusions:
- The developed imaging-guided strategy using reprogrammed DCs is highly effective for cancer immunotherapy.
- This approach overcomes key limitations in DC-based therapies by integrating imaging and therapeutic functionalities.
