Open AccessBiomaterial-Facilitated Immunotherapy for Established Oral Cancers
Author(s) -
David G. Leach,
Neeraja Dharmaraj,
Tania L. Lopez-Silva,
Jose Rodriguez Venzor,
Brett H Pogostin,
Andrew G. Sikora,
Jeffrey D. Hartgerink,
Simon Young
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acs biomaterials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.082
H-Index - 50
ISSN - 2373-9878
DOI - 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c01575
Subject(s) - biomaterial , immunotherapy , drug delivery , self healing hydrogels , peptide , agonist , cancer research , medicine , drug , immune system , pharmacology , biomedical engineering , materials science , chemistry , immunology , nanotechnology , receptor , biochemistry , polymer chemistry
We evaluated a peptide-based immunotherapy termed SynerGel: an injectable, biomaterial-based platform for intratumoral drug delivery. A drug-mimicking peptide hydrogel named L-NIL-MDP was loaded with an antitumor cyclic dinucleotide (CDN) immunotherapy agonist. The biomaterial combines inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibition with controlled delivery of CDNs, demonstrating between 4- and 20-fold slower drug release than commercially available hydrogels. SynerGel allowed for immune-mediated elimination of established treatment-resistant oral tumors in a murine model, with a median survival of 67.5 days compared with 44 days in no-treatment control. This report details findings for a promising therapy showing improved efficacy over previous hydrogel systems.