- Scientists are testing nanoparticle imaging to monitor how immune cells target and attack cancer.
- The approach is being studied alongside dendritic cell therapy, which trains patients’ immune systems to recognize cancer-specific antigens.
- Clinical trials at the Preston A. Wells Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy are evaluating the dendritic cell therapy’s effectiveness in boosting cancer immunotherapy.
To understand the University of Florida’s nanoparticle imaging research and its potential to boost cancer immunity, think of bloodhounds sniffing out troubled targets.
White blood cells (T cells) are the bloodhounds. Cancer is the trouble. And dendritic cell therapy is the trainer directing those bloodhounds to those targets.
Now, in a collaboration between UF’s biomedical engineering and neurosurgery departments, UF researchers are testing nanoparticle imaging to track that process and make sure T cells get to those cancer cells.