Injectable Macroporous Gelatin Scaffolds Loaded with Easily-phagocytosed and Self-adjuvanting Whole Cell Antigens for Therapeutic Tumor Vaccination (PRJCA040897)

The application of whole tumor cell (WTC) vaccine is often limited by the weak immunogenicity of WTC antigens and the scarcity of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) at the vaccination site. To address these challenges, we develop an Easily Phagocytosed and Self-Adjuvanting WTC antigen (termed as MTCs) by inactivating tumor cells with Mito-FFa. Compared to radiation-inactivated tumor cells (RTCs), which are the clinical WTC antigen, MTCs exhibit significantly higher surface calreticulin (CRT) exposure and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) leakage, leading to enhanced antigen uptake and maturation of APCs.