title: Towards efficient cancer immunotherapy: advances in developing artificial antigen-presenting cells.
abstract: Active anti-cancer immune responses depend on efficient presentation of tumor antigens and co-stimulatory signals by antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Therapy with autologous natural APCs is costly and time-consuming and results in variable outcomes in clinical trials. Therefore, development of artificial APCs (aAPCs) has attracted significant interest as an alternative. We discuss the characteristics of various types of acellular aAPCs, and their clinical potential in cancer immunotherapy. The size, shape, and ligand mobility of aAPCs and their presentation of different immunological signals can all have significant effects on cytotoxic T cell activation. Novel optimized aAPCs, combining carefully tuned properties, may lead to efficient immunomodulation and improved clinical responses in cancer immunotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Immunology, Radboud University Medical Centre and Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Loek J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Eggermont
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Immunology, Radboud University Medical Centre and Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Leonie E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Paulis
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Immunology, Radboud University Medical Centre and Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jurjen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tel
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Immunology, Radboud University Medical Centre and Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: c.figdor@ncmls.ru.nl.
authors.forename: Carl G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Figdor
mesh_terms: D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D058045:Artificial Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
keywords: artificial antigen-presenting cell; cancer; immunotherapy; synthetic dendritic cell