Materials that target key immune cells to boost cancer-killing T cells
Biomaterials for Targeted Modulation of Conventional Type 1 Dendritic Cells
This project develops an injectable material that tags and guides a special immune cell so it can better train T cells to attack tumors, aiming to help people with solid cancers.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Champaign, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11168880 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you followed the long-term plan of this work, researchers would inject a porous biomaterial near lymph nodes that attracts a type of immune cell called cDC1. The material would add a small chemical tag to those cells so vaccines, adjuvants, or immune signals can stick directly to them in the body. Tagged cDC1s would then travel to lymph nodes and activate stronger, focused T cell responses against tumors. Right now the team is developing and testing this approach in the lab and in animal models as a step toward possible future human trials.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates for future trials would be people with solid tumors that have not responded well to current immunotherapies and who are eligible for early-phase clinical testing.
Not a fit: People with cancers limited to the blood (non-solid tumors), those who need immediate standard treatments, or patients who cannot receive local injections near lymph nodes are unlikely to benefit from this preclinical work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could create stronger and longer-lasting anti-tumor T cell responses while reducing off-target side effects.
How similar studies have performed: Related dendritic-cell vaccines and biomaterial scaffolds have shown promise in preclinical and some early clinical work, but the specific idea of metabolically tagging cDC1s in vivo is novel and largely untested in humans.
Where this research is happening
Champaign, United States
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — Champaign, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wang, Hua — University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Study coordinator: Wang, Hua
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.