Spatiotemporal coordination of antigen presentation and co-stimulatory signal for enhanced anti-tumor vaccination.

Controlled-release systems enhance anti-tumor effects by leveraging local antigen persistence for antigen-presenting cells (APCs) recruitment and T cell engagement. However, constant antigen presentation alone tends to induce dysfunction in tumor-specific CD8 + T cells, neglecting the synergistic effects of co-stimulatory signal. To address this, we developed a soft particle-stabilized emulsion (SPE) to deliver lipopeptides with controlled release profiles by adjusting their hydrophobic chain lengths: C 6 -SPE (fast release), C 10 -SPE (medium release), and C 16 -SPE (slow release). Following administration, C 6 -SPE release antigen rapidly, inducing early antigen presentation, whereas C 16 -SPE's slow-release delays antigen presentation. Both scenarios missed the critical window for coordinating with the expression of CD86, leading to either T cell apoptosis or suboptimal activation. In contrast, C 10 -SPE achieved a spatiotemporally synergetic effect of the MHC-I-peptide complex and co-stimulatory signal (CD86), leading to effective dendritic cell (DC) activation, enhanced T cell activation, and tumor regression in EG7-OVA bearing mice. Additionally, co-delivery of cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) with SPE provided a sustained expression of the CD86 window for DC activation, improving the immune response and producing robust anti-tumor effects with C 6 -SPE comparable to C 10 -SPE. These findings highlight that synchronizing the spatiotemporal dynamics of antigen presentation and APC activation may confer an optimal strategy for enhanced vaccinations.