A regenerative and programmable iPSC-derived platelet platform for universal drug delivery and immunotherapy

Platelet-based drug-delivery systems have garnered increasing attention for cancer treatment, yet their broader application is hindered by the limited source and poor genetic modifiability. Here, we established a regenerative and programmable platelet-based drug-delivery platform derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells. By engineering these induced pluripotent stem cells to express a co-stimulatory signal, 4-1BBL, we generated 4-1BBL-presenting induced platelets (BBL1-iPLTs) that act as artificial antigen-presenting cells. In vitro, BBL1-iPLTs markedly enhanced T cell activation and proliferation and augmented cytotoxic activity against several types of cancer cells, including leukemia cells and solid tumor cell lines, underscoring their broad therapeutic potential. In murine models of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, systemic delivery of BBL1-iPLTs effectively boosted first-generation CD19-chimeric antigen receptor T cell activity and suppressed tumor progression. This work establishes a renewable, genetically engineerable, and clinically translatable platelet platform for next-generation cancer immunotherapy and beyond.