Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Countering postoperative immune suppression with a self-assembling dendritic cell nanovaccine

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.05.005

Figure Lengend Snippet: BAIT, an arginine-enriched peptide nanogel co-assembling antigens and CCL20, acts as an in vivo-generated DC vaccine. It harnesses arginine metabolism to activate the mTOR pathway and upregulate pSAP, restoring lysosomal function in DCs and counteracting TGFβ-induced defects in antigen digestion and MHC-peptide complex formation. Guided by functional precision medicine principles, this approach provides a promising personalized postoperative cancer vaccine strategy to counter surgery-induced immunosuppression.

Article Snippet: After treatment, the cells were washed twice with PBS and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 20 min. For intracellular protein staining, fixed cells were permeabilized with 0.1% Triton X-100 at room temperature for 10 min. Next, the cells were blocked with 2% BSA and incubated with rat CoraLite Plus 488 anti-mouse LAMP1 antibody (1:200) and rabbit anti-mouse pSAP (1:200) antibody overnight at 4 °C.

Techniques: In Vivo, Generated, Functional Assay, Clinical Proteomics

Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Countering postoperative immune suppression with a self-assembling dendritic cell nanovaccine

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.05.005

Figure Lengend Snippet: BAITs enhance pSAP expression and restore lysosomal function in DCs. (A) Schematic illustration of antigen digestion assay. DCs were treated with Cy3-antigen or Cy3-BAITs for 12 h, then fresh medium was added and residual fluorescence monitored over 24 h. (B) Confocal images of DCs (LysoTracker Green labels lysosomes) showing antigen (red) clearance with BAITs vs. persistence with free antigens. (C) Quantification of antigen fluorescence remaining in DCs over time (n = 10; ∗∗∗∗ is P < 0.0001 by two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc test). (D) Schematic illustration: Arginine-enriched BAITs activate mTOR to upregulate pSAP, countering TGFβ-induced lysosomal dysfunction. (E) The fold change of mRNA levels in mTOR pathway in BAIT-treated DCs compared to antigen-treated DCs (n = 3). (F) RT-qPCR analysis confirming increased Psap mRNA in BAIT-treated DCs (n = 6; ∗∗∗∗ is P < 0.0001 by two-tailed Student's t -test). (G, H) Representative images (G) and fluorescence colocalization analysis (H) showing pSAP expression and lysosome coverage in DCs. (I) Western blot images of pSAP expression in DCs confirming increased pSAP and saposins by BAITs. (J) Western blot images of pSAP expression in DCs. The mTOR inhibitor (Torin 1) abolished the BAIT-induced restoration of pSAP and saposins. (K) Assessment of lysosomal function in DCs using LysoSensor staining.

Article Snippet: After treatment, the cells were washed twice with PBS and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 20 min. For intracellular protein staining, fixed cells were permeabilized with 0.1% Triton X-100 at room temperature for 10 min. Next, the cells were blocked with 2% BSA and incubated with rat CoraLite Plus 488 anti-mouse LAMP1 antibody (1:200) and rabbit anti-mouse pSAP (1:200) antibody overnight at 4 °C.

Techniques: Expressing, Fluorescence, Quantitative RT-PCR, Two Tailed Test, Western Blot, Staining