Enhanced Activation and Expansion of T Cells Using Mechanically Soft Elastomer Fibers

Overview

Journal Adv Biosyst

Specialties Biology
Biomedical Engineering
Biotechnology

Date 2019 Apr 23

PMID 31008184

Citations 15

Authors

Alex Dang

Sarah De Leo

Danielle R Bogdanowicz

Dennis J Yuan

Stacey M Fernandes

Jennifer R Brown

Helen H Lu

Lance C Kam

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Practical deployment of cellular therapies requires effective platforms for producing clinically relevant numbers of high-quality cells. This report introduces a materials-based approach to improving activation and expansion of T cells, which are rapidly emerging as an agent for treating cancer and a range of other diseases. Electrospinning is used to create a mesh of poly(ε-caprolactone) fibers, which is used to present activating ligands to CD3 and CD28, which activate T cells for expansion. Incorporation of poly(dimethyl siloxane) elastomer into the fibers reduces substrate rigidity and enhances expansion of mixed populations of human CD4 and CD8 T cells. Intriguingly, this platform also rescues expansion of T cells isolated from CLL patients, which often show limited responsiveness and other features resembling exhaustion. By simplifying the process of cell expansion, compared to current bead-based platforms, and improving T cell expansion, the system introduced here may accelerate development of cellular immunotherapy.

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