Membrane-coated Nanoparticles for Direct Recognition by T Cells.

The direct modulation of T cell responses is an emerging therapeutic strategy with the potential to modulate undesired immune responses including, autoimmune disease, and allogeneic cells transplantation. We have previously demonstrated that poly(lactide-co-glycolide) PLG particles were able to modulate T cell responses indirectly through antigen presenting cells (APCs). In this report, we investigated the design of nanoparticles that can directly interact and modulate T cells by coating the membranes from APCs onto nanoparticles to form membrane-coated nanoparticles (MCNP). Proteins within the membranes of the APCs, such as MHC class II and co-stimulatory factors, were effectively transferred to the MCNP. Using alloreactive T cell models, MCNP derived from allogeneic dendritic cells were able to stimulate proliferation, which was not observed with membranes from syngeneic dendritic cells and influenced cytokine secretion. Furthermore, we investigated engineering of the membranes either on the dendritic cells or post-fabrication of MCNP. Engineered membranes could be to promote antigen specific responses, to differentially activate T cells, or to directly induce apoptosis. Collectively, MCNPs represent a tunable platform that can directly interact with and modulate T cell responses. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.