Biomimetic dendritic-cell-derived nanovectors for targeting the immune system (Proyecto PID2020-119479RA-I00 financiado por MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033)

This project aims to establish the fundamental basis for engineering semi-artificial cell-based nanoformulations capable of recreating in detail natural scenarios for tailoring the outcomes of an immune response. The bio-synthetic nanostructures will be designed by self-assembly of natural components derived from dendritic cells, differentiated to
immature, mature, or antigen-presenting cells, in order to recapitulate one or more functional modules of their native counterparts, particularly the cellular membrane. These bioactive nanostructures will be capable of mimicking all the signals necessary to control the specific naive T cell stimulation and differentiation (e.g. to CD4+ T helper cells or CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes) in response to special external biological signals. Cell communication and signaling, between dendritic cells and T cells, are mediated by secreted proteins named cytokines.