Researchers have developed a biomaterial vaccine formulation that significantly enhances and extends lymph node expansion, leading to improved immune responses and vaccine efficacy against tumors. By jump-starting LN expansion before administering a traditional vaccine, they achieved more effective and sustained anti-tumor responses.
While the oversized LNs maintained a normal tissue organization, they displayed altered mechanical features and hosted higher numbers of various immune cell types that commonly are involved in immune responses against pathogens and cancers. Notably, “jump-starting” lymph node expansion prior to administering a traditional vaccine against a melanoma-specific model antigen led to more effective and sustained anti-tumor responses in mice.
The authors used a method know as high-frequency ultrasound to monitor individual lymph nodes in MPS- and control-vaccinated mice. The top row shows a series of lymph nodes on day 7 following MPS vaccination. All of them were significantly expanded, compared to lymph nodes following control vaccination imaged at the same time and shown in the bottom row.
When Najibi and the team investigated the mechanical responses of the LNs using a nanoindentation device, they found that LNs in MPS-vaccinated animals, although maintaining an overall normal structure, were less stiff and more viscous in certain locations. This was accompanied by a re-organization of a protein that assembles and controls cells’ mechanically active cytoskeleton.
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