Hiring in life sciences? Share your open positions with our professional community. Read more Close

Advertisement

PROTAC-Engineered Protein/DNA Nanoantigen is a Potent Booster for Dendritic Cell Vaccines in Cancer Immunotherapy.

Created on 11 Aug 2026

Authors

Peng Liu, Qiang Chen, Zhe Zhou, Yuekang Xu, Jinyao Li

Published in

Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany). Pages e77089. Aug 11, 2026. Epub Aug 11, 2026.

Abstract

The efficacy of dendritic cell (DC) vaccines in cancer immunotherapy is often limited by weak immunogenicity due to inefficient antigen cross-presentation (XPT). We previously combined a calcium carbonate (CaCO3) delivery system with a proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) to enhance antigen degradation. Along this line, we developed a protein/DNA-integrated nanoantigen platform (HpOAC) co-loading CaCO3 with a His-tagged ovalbumin (O) modified with the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) E3 ligase-recruiting peptide ALAPYIP (HOA) and a eukaryotic plasmid encoding O-ALAPYIP (pOA). HpOAC promoted DC maturation and migration via Ca2+ release. Mechanistically, HOA provided an immediate antigen source, while pOA enabled sustained expression; both underwent ALAPYIP-mediated VHL recruitment, enhancing O ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation, thereby amplifying XPT. Consequently, HpOAC-DCs induced strong OT-I/OT-II T cell proliferation in vitro. In vivo, a single immunization with HpOAC-DCs significantly suppressed tumor growth and elicited durable antigen-specific T helper type 1 and cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses, outperforming single-antigen vaccines. Under a two-dose regimen, its anti-tumor efficacy was improved compared to non-PROTAC and in situ antigen vaccines. Thus, we constructed a PROTAC-enhanced, protein/DNA-integrated DC vaccine platform that synergizes immediate and sustained antigen supply with Ca2+-mediated adjuvanticity, offering a highly promising strategy for novel DC vaccine design.

PMID:
42579297
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 11 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Advertisement

Stats

  • Community rating n/a 0 votes
  • Reviewers' rating n/a 0 votes
  • Your rating

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

  • Recommendations n/a n/a positive of 0 vote(s)
  • Views 7
  • Comments 0

Recommended by

  • No recommendations yet.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Advertisement