Engineering coordinated B and T follicular helper cell responses by polymer-drug conjugate-based nanovesicles to potentiate cancer immunotherapy

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Dirk Baumjohann; Professor Yang Shi, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Immunology ; Pharmacy
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 547075721

Cancer immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment options for many solid tumor entities. However, not all cancer patients respond to these novel therapies. Therefore, there is a strong demand for a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of these therapies and for strategies to improve response rates. Increased frequencies and responses of B cells and T follicular helper (Tfh) cells frequently correlate with better outcomes in many solid tumor types. Thus, potentiating B-Tfh cell interactions represents a promising means to boost anti-tumor immunity. Here, we propose a novel biomaterials strategy to engineer coordinated B and Tfh cell responses that potentiate cancer immunotherapy. We will employ a novel type of immunostimulatory nanovesicles (NVs) that show strong B cell activation and Tfh cell differentiation capabilities in vitro and in vivo, to boost anti-cancer immunity alone or in combination with immune checkpoint blockade in mice. In addition, we will test the ability of the engineered NVs to function as a cancer-preventative vaccine. This highly innovative and collaborative research project bridges complementary expertise in biomaterials engineering, basic immunology, vaccination, and cancer immunotherapy, to advance these novel biomaterials-based therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants