Ionic liquid–mediated cellular loading for whole tumor cell vaccines
- 1John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Allston, MA 02134
- 2Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02215
Abstract
Conventional whole tumor cell cancer vaccines have demonstrated limited clinical success due to insufficient immunogenicity and challenges in adjuvant codelivery, despite their rich antigen repertoire and high patient-specific activity. Here, we introduce a simple, single-step approach to load immunostimulatory CpG oligodeoxynucleotides into tumor cells undergoing immunogenic cell death using an ionic liquid–containing cocktail. Results indicate that these adjuvant-loaded tumor cells (referred to as IL-Vax) enhance the uptake of cell-based vaccines by dendritic cells and their subsequent activation, leading to potent antitumor immunity. IL-Vax offered strong protection against tumor growth in a prophylactic B16F10 melanoma mouse model. Furthermore, IL-Vax synergized with PD-1 blockade to slow tumor growth and extend survival in a therapeutic model. The modularity of IL-Vax enables the loading of different cargos or cargo combinations, which may be conducive for additional tailoring of such vaccines and potentially other cell loading applications.
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BibTeX
@article{rodrigues2026ionic,
title = {{Ionic liquid–mediated cellular loading for whole tumor cell vaccines}},
author = {Danika Rodrigues and Malini Mukherji and Kyung Soo Park and Maithili Joshi and Litsa Kapsalis and Suyog Shaha and Michael Griffith Bibbey and Metecan Erdi and Samir Mitragotri},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1073/pnas.2604066123},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2604066123},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ionic liquid–mediated cellular loading for whole tumor cell vaccines
AU - Danika Rodrigues
AU - Malini Mukherji
AU - Kyung Soo Park
AU - Maithili Joshi
AU - Litsa Kapsalis
AU - Suyog Shaha
AU - Michael Griffith Bibbey
AU - Metecan Erdi
AU - Samir Mitragotri
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2604066123
UR - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2604066123
AB - Conventional whole tumor cell cancer vaccines have demonstrated limited clinical success due to insufficient immunogenicity and challenges in adjuvant codelivery, despite their rich antigen repertoire and high patient-specific activity. Here, we introduce a simple, single-step approach to load immunostimulatory CpG oligodeoxynucleotides into tumor cells undergoing immunogenic cell death using an ionic liquid–containing cocktail. Results indicate that these adjuvant-loaded tumor cells (referred to as IL-Vax) enhance the uptake of cell-based vaccines by dendritic cells and their subsequent activation, leading to potent antitumor immunity. IL-Vax offered strong protection against tumor growth in a prophylactic B16F10 melanoma mouse model. Furthermore, IL-Vax synergized with PD-1 blockade to slow tumor growth and extend survival in a therapeutic model. The modularity of IL-Vax enables the loading of different cargos or cargo combinations, which may be conducive for additional tailoring of such vaccines and potentially other cell loading applications.
SN - 0027-8424
SN - 1091-6490
ER -