Programmable biomaterials may be one of the next great advances against some cancers, if new findings are confirmed. This remarkable material is designed to be injected into bodies, where the substance spontaneously self-assembles into a 3D form, able to battle cancers, as well as infectious diseases, such as HIV.
Cancer can be extremely dangerous due to its ability to elude attack from the immune system. Doctors often utilize immunotherapy in order to train immune systems to attack the defective cells.
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University researchers, along with investigators from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at the college, developed the new treatment.
Mesoporous silica rods (MSRs) are tubes, made of silica, that can be injected immediately beneath the skin of patients. There, they form random piles, similar to pick-up sticks. This creates space between the rods, that soon fill with dendritic cells, which monitor the body for infection, and direct the immune system to attack invading bodies.
"We can create 3D structures using minimally-invasive delivery to enrich and activate a host's immune cells to target and attack harmful cells in vivo [in the body]," David Mooney of the Wyss Institute said.
The tiny MSR's are created with nanopores penetrating their structures. These holes can be filled with drugs or organic structures designed to create a certain effect in patients. Once spaces between the rods are filled with dendrite cells, the chosen medicine is delivered from the nanopores, triggering an immune response. Activated cells then travel from the injection site to lymph nodes, where they raise a "general alarm" in the immune system to fight the invader. Over a few months, the scaffold of nanorods slowly biodegrades, dissolving into the patient's body.
"By tuning the surface properties and pore size of the MSRs, and therefore controlling the introduction and release of various proteins and drugs, we can manipulate the immune system to treat multiple diseases," Aileen Li of Harvard SEAS stated in a university press release.
The 3D vaccine has only been tested on mice so far, but the material worked as expected, triggering a major response from immune systems against cancer cells. If human testing produces similar results, the technology could hold promise for emerging diseases.
"We anticipate 3D vaccines could be broadly useful for many settings, and their injectable nature would also make them easy to administer both inside and outside a clinic," Mooney said.
Development of the programmable biomaterial was profiled in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
