Transient nanotargeting
mRNA-loaded nanoparticles transiently modify therapeutic cells simply and safely
A team from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has designed nanoparticles that introduce mRNA cargo to therapeutic cells in vitro, without requiring special instrumentation or causing the cell depletion or cytotoxicity that limits the utility of other transfection methods such as electroporation. The particles should enable easier and more cost-effective preparation of therapeutic CAR T and other cell therapies.
In an August Nature study, a team led by Matthias Stephan designed nanoparticles to deliver synthetic mRNA that reprogrammed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells to a safer and more therapeutically useful phenotype. Stephan is an associate member in the immunology program at the Hutch and associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington. Earlier this year, his group showed that nanoparticles loaded with CAR DNA and targeted to T cells could induce in vivo programming of CAR cells and increase survival in mice without requiring host lymphodepletion (see “Delivering Model T CARs.” BioCentury Innovations (April 26, 2017)). ...