Co-transfection gene delivery of dendritic cells induced effective lymph node targeting and anti-tumor vaccination

Purpose: Successful genetically engineered Dendritic Cell (DC) can enhance DC's antigen presentation and lymph node migration. The present study aims to genetically engineer a DC using an efficient non-viral gene delivery vector to induce a highly efficient antigen presentation and lymph node targeting in vivo. Methods: Spermine-dextran (SD), a cationic polysaccharide vector, was used to prepare a gene delivery system for DC engineering. Transfection efficiency, nuclear trafficking, and safety of the SD/DNA complex were evaluated. A vaccine prepared by engineering DC with SD/gp100, a plasmid encoding melanoma-associated antigen, was injected subcutaneously into mice to evaluate the tumor suppression. The migration of the engineered DCs was also evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Results: SD/DNA complex has a better transfection behavior in vitro than commercially purchased reagents. The DC vaccine co-transfected with plasmid coding CCR7, a chemokine receptor essential for DC migration, and plasmid coding gp100 displayed superior tumor suppression than that with plasmid coding gp100 alone. Migration assay demonstrated that DC transfected with SD/CCR7 can promote DC migration capacity. Conclusions: The study is the first to report the application of nonviral vector SD to co-transfect DC with gp100 and CCR7-coding plasmid to induce both the capacity of antigen presentation and lymph node targeting.