Lecture

Immune Engineering: Cancer Immunotherapy Strategies

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In course

MSE-471: Biomaterials (pour MX)

The course introduces the main classes of biomaterials used in the biomedical field. The interactions with biological environment are discussed and challenges highlighted. State of the art examples per type of material are discussed. Students will engineer ...

Description

This lecture explores strategies for cancer immunotherapy, including blocking inhibitory pathways on T cells, increasing effector T cells through adoptive T cell therapy and vaccination, and how materials can enhance cancer vaccines. It also covers the use of biomaterials to activate the immune system, the challenges of immunotherapy, and the role of biopolymer-based expansion of tumor-specific T cells. The instructor discusses implantable cancer vaccines, synthetic cues for T cell stimulation, and the design of implantable alginate disks to boost T cell delivery in vivo. The lecture concludes with insights on sustained local delivery of immune cells using biomaterials and the potential of materials in cancer immunotherapy.

Instructor

Maartje Martina Cornelia Bastings

Expertise Can we use structural material properties on the nanoscale to engineer selective interactions at the bio-interface?The goal of the Programmable Biomaterials Lab is to understand the molecular design rules behind selective multivalent interactions at the bio-interface. We use DNA as engineering tool to explore the importance of structural mechanics and precise control of valency and patterns on directional interactions and self-assembly. Expertise Can we use structural material properties on the na

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Health sciences

Immunology: Immune system

Related concepts (31)

Immune system

The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinters, distinguishing them from the organism's own healthy tissue. Many species have two major subsystems of the immune system. The innate immune system provides a preconfigured response to broad groups of situations and stimuli.

Immune response

An immune response is a physiological reaction which occurs within an organism in the context of inflammation for the purpose of defending against exogenous factors. These include a wide variety of different toxins, viruses, intra- and extracellular bacteria, protozoa, helminths, and fungi which could cause serious problems to the health of the host organism if not cleared from the body. In addition, there are other forms of immune response.

Adaptive immune system

The adaptive immune system, also known as the acquired immune system, or specific immune system is a subsystem of the immune system that is composed of specialized, systemic cells and processes that eliminate pathogens or prevent their growth. The acquired immune system is one of the two main immunity strategies found in vertebrates (the other being the innate immune system). Like the innate system, the adaptive immune system includes both humoral immunity components and cell-mediated immunity components and destroys invading pathogens.

Innate immune system

The innate, or nonspecific, immune system is one of the two main immunity strategies (the other being the adaptive immune system) in vertebrates. The innate immune system is an alternate defense strategy and is the dominant immune system response found in plants, fungi, insects, and primitive multicellular organisms (see Beyond vertebrates).

Cell-mediated immunity

Cell-mediated immunity or cellular immunity is an immune response that does not involve antibodies. Rather, cell-mediated immunity is the activation of phagocytes, antigen-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, and the release of various cytokines in response to an antigen. In the late 19th century Hippocratic tradition medicine system, the immune system was imagined into two branches: humoral immunity, for which the protective function of immunization could be found in the humor (cell-free bodily fluid or serum) and cellular immunity, for which the protective function of immunization was associated with cells.

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