Cell‐Sized Lipid Vesicles as Artificial Antigen‐Presenting Cells for Antigen‐Specific T Cell Activation (Adv. Healthcare Mater. 12/2023)
Jui‐Yi Chen, Sudhanshu Agrawal, Hsiu‐Ping Yi, Derek Vallejo, Anshu Agrawal, Abraham P. Lee
Abstract
Immunotherapy This image depicts cell-mimicking artificial antigen-presenting cells (aAPCs, pink) and biological T cells (blue). In article 2203163 by Anshu Agrawal, Abraham P. Lee, and co-workers, aAPCs are produced using a microfluidic device, which enables facile and stable double emulsion droplet generation. By recapitulating the properties of a cell, namely, size, fluidity, and surface proteins, aAPCs are able to engage with T cells, forming immune synapses. Multiple ligands on aAPCs can engage with the receptors on T cells due to the high surface fluidity of the lipid bilayer. The size of the aAPC (≈20 μm diameter) also contributes to an adequate force that is essential for T cell activation. Experimental results suggest that T cells can tightly bind with the aAPCs and maximize their contact area. After interacting with aAPCs, T cells are activated and subsequently proliferate in large numbers. The background shows a wide spectrum of aAPCs, T cells, and most importantly, aAPC-T cell pairs joint by immune synapses, as is observed in this research.