Nanovaccine could enhance cancer immunotherapy

NIBIB researchers have created a nanovaccine that could make a current approach to cancer immunotherapy more effective while also reducing side effects. The nanovaccine helps to efficiently deliver a unique DNA sequence to immune cells – a sequence derived from bacterial DNA and used to trigger an immune reaction. The nanovaccine also protects the DNA from being destroyed inside the body, where DNA-cutting enzymes are pervasive, as well as outside of the body when exposed to warm temperatures while being stored or transported. The researchers successfully tested the nanovaccine in mice and detailed their work in the March 2016 issue of the journal Nanoscale.

Tumors evade the immune system by suppressing its ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. The goal of immunotherapy is to normalize and harness the body’s immune system so that it can more effectively fight the Tumors.

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