Boronized manganese adjuvant enables potent antitumor whole cell vaccines featuring boosted immunogenicity and antigen presentation
11 affiliations
- 1Jinling Clinical Medical College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210000 China
- 2Academy of Advanced Interdisciplinary Research, Faculty of Integrated Circuit, Xidian University, Xi’an, 710071 China
- 3Department of Medical Oncology, Nanjing Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210000 China
- 4Department of Applied Physical Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, 27514 NC USA
- 5College of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Hohai University, Nangjing, 211100 China
- 6Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710061 PR China
- 7School of Physics, MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049 China
- 8Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16803 PA USA
- 9Nanjing Jinling Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166 China
- 10School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210009 China
- 11Southern Medical University First Clinical Medical College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515 China
Abstract
Whole tumor cell vaccines (TCVs) show the full endogenous antigen repertoire, yet insufficient immunogenicity and antigen presentation remain obstacles to clinical translation. To address these challenges, this study develops a β-cyclodextrin-embedded boronized manganese adjuvant (labelled as MnB@β-CD) to couple strong photothermal conversion with immune regulatory function, featuring on-demand Mn2+ release to activate the STING pathway. Loading MnB@β-CD into tumor cells followed by near-infrared (NIR) irradiation induced immunogenic cell death (ICD) in tumor cells, amplified type I/II interferon signaling and IL-12 secretion, and promoted dendritic cell (DC) maturation with efficient antigen cross-presentation, thus triggering robust antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses and long-term immune memory. Encapsulation of the MnB@β-CD-based TCV (mG-TCV) within an injectable alginate-based hydrogel (ALG) further provided prolonged local retention, supporting sustained immune activation. This hydrogel-based vaccine achieved effective tumor suppression, with a tumor inhibition rate (TIR) of 90%. As a multifunctional manganese-based adjuvant, MnB@β-CD offered an NIR-responsive and programmable strategy for generating TCVs derived from ICD-induced cancer cells.
Graphical abstract:
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-026-04834-z.
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BibTeX
@article{liu2026boronized,
title = {{Boronized manganese adjuvant enables potent antitumor whole cell vaccines featuring boosted immunogenicity and antigen presentation}},
author = {Wanyi Liu and Dingyi Yang and Xueru Song and Yizhang Wu and Yong Wang and Wenqi Guo and Jie Wang and Hefang Cao and Yao Chen and Suhang Yi and Guangjian Zhang and Sen Yang and Xiaoyuan Chu and Huanyu Cheng and Zengjie Lei},
journal = {Journal of Nanobiotechnology},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1186/s12951-026-04834-z},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-026-04834-z},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Boronized manganese adjuvant enables potent antitumor whole cell vaccines featuring boosted immunogenicity and antigen presentation
AU - Wanyi Liu
AU - Dingyi Yang
AU - Xueru Song
AU - Yizhang Wu
AU - Yong Wang
AU - Wenqi Guo
AU - Jie Wang
AU - Hefang Cao
AU - Yao Chen
AU - Suhang Yi
AU - Guangjian Zhang
AU - Sen Yang
AU - Xiaoyuan Chu
AU - Huanyu Cheng
AU - Zengjie Lei
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/08
JO - Journal of Nanobiotechnology
DO - 10.1186/s12951-026-04834-z
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-026-04834-z
AB - Whole tumor cell vaccines (TCVs) show the full endogenous antigen repertoire, yet insufficient immunogenicity and antigen presentation remain obstacles to clinical translation. To address these challenges, this study develops a β-cyclodextrin-embedded boronized manganese adjuvant (labelled as MnB@β-CD) to couple strong photothermal conversion with immune regulatory function, featuring on-demand Mn2+ release to activate the STING pathway. Loading MnB@β-CD into tumor cells followed by near-infrared (NIR) irradiation induced immunogenic cell death (ICD) in tumor cells, amplified type I/II interferon signaling and IL-12 secretion, and promoted dendritic cell (DC) maturation with efficient antigen cross-presentation, thus triggering robust antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses and long-term immune memory. Encapsulation of the MnB@β-CD-based TCV (mG-TCV) within an injectable alginate-based hydrogel (ALG) further provided prolonged local retention, supporting sustained immune activation. This hydrogel-based vaccine achieved effective tumor suppression, with a tumor inhibition rate (TIR) of 90%. As a multifunctional manganese-based adjuvant, MnB@β-CD offered an NIR-responsive and programmable strategy for generating TCVs derived from ICD-induced cancer cells. Graphical abstract: Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-026-04834-z.
SN - 1477-3155
ER -