New paper in Biomaterials

Prof. Nico and colleagues have recently published in Biomaterials their work on manipulating human dendritic cell phenotype and function with targeted porous silicon nanoparticles.

Dendritic cells (DC) are the most potent antigen-presenting cells and are fundamental for the establishment of transplant tolerance. The Dendritic Cell-Specific Intracellular adhesion molecule-3-Grabbing Non-integrin (DC-SIGN; CD209) receptor provides a target for dendritic cell therapy. Biodegradable and high-surface area porous silicon (pSi) nanoparticles displaying anti-DC-SIGN antibodies and loaded with the immunosuppressant rapamycin (Sirolimus) serve as a fit-for-purpose platform to target and modify DC. Here, we describe the fabrication of rapamycin-loaded DC-SIGN displaying pSi nanoparticles, the uptake efficiency into DC and the extent of nanoparticle-induced modulation of phenotype and function. DC-SIGN antibody displaying pSi nanoparticles favourably targeted and were phagocytosed by monocyte-derived and myeloid DC in whole human blood in a time- and dose-dependent manner. DC preconditioning with rapamycin-loaded nanoparticles, resulted in a maturation resistant phenotype and significantly suppressed allogeneic T-cell proliferation.