title: Acetalated dextran is a chemically and biologically tunable material for particulate immunotherapy.
abstract: Materials that combine facile synthesis, simple tuning of degradation rate, processability, and biocompatibility are in high demand for use in biomedical applications. We report on acetalated dextran, a biocompatible material that can be formed into microparticles with degradation rates that are tunable over 2 orders of magnitude depending on the degree and type of acetal modification. Varying the degradation rate produces particles that perform better than poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) and iron oxide, two commonly studied materials used for particulate immunotherapy, in major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) and MHC II presentation assays. Modulating the material properties leads to antigen presentation on MHC I via pathways that are dependent or independent of the transporter associated with antigen processing. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only example of a material that can be tuned to operate on different immunological pathways while maximizing immunological presentation.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1460, USA.
authors.forename: Kyle E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Broaders
authors.forename: Joel A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Tristan T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Beaudette
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Bachelder
authors.forename: Jean M J
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Fréchet