Immunotherapy

As an application of ELP biomaterials, our lab is focusing on the development of immunotherapy delivery platforms. Through the genetic and chemical modification, we can engineer ELPs to modulate the immune system at multiple stages of the cancer immunity cycle. Enhanced delivery of immunomodulatory molecules with ELPs can promote: 1) release and presentation of cancer antigens, 2) priming and recruitment of immune cells, 3) infiltration of immune cells to tumor microenvironments, 4) recognition of cancer cells by T cells, and 5) immunogenic death of cancer cells. We are utilizing ELP-based delivery platforms for novel combination therapies to generate robust anti-cancer immune responses for the eradication of established tumors.

Publications

Varanko, Anastasia K., Sonal Deshpande, Xinghai Li, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. "Binding Strength, Not Valency, Dictates Accumulation and Penetration of Affinity Targeted Macromolecules into Solid Tumors." Biomacromolecules 26, no. 1 (2024), December 27, 2024. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.biomac.4c01303.

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Lazar, K. M., S. Shetty, A. Chilkoti, and J. H. Collier. “Immune-active polymeric materials for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.” Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science 67 (October 1, 2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cocis.2023.101726.

Schaal, Jeffrey L., Jayanta Bhattacharyya, Jeremy Brownstein, Kyle C. Strickland, Garrett Kelly, Soumen Saha, Joshua Milligan, et al. “Brachytherapy via a depot of biopolymer-bound 131I synergizes with nanoparticle paclitaxel in therapy-resistant pancreatic tumours.” Nat Biomed Eng 6, no. 10 (October 2022): 1148–66. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-022-00949-4.

Yousefpour, P., A. Varanko, R. Subrahmanyan, and A. Chilkoti. “Recombinant Fusion of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 and an Albumin Binding Domain Provides Glycemic Control for a Week in Diabetic Mice.” Advanced Therapeutics 3, no. 10 (October 1, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1002/adtp.202000073.

Banskota, Samagya, Parisa Yousefpour, Nadia Kirmani, Xinghai Li, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “Long circulating genetically encoded intrinsically disordered zwitterionic polypeptides for drug delivery.” Biomaterials 192 (February 2019): 475–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.11.012.

Mastria, Eric M., Leon Y. Cai, Matthew J. Kan, Xinghai Li, Jeffrey L. Schaal, Steven Fiering, Michael D. Gunn, Mark W. Dewhirst, Smita K. Nair, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “Nanoparticle formulation improves doxorubicin efficacy by enhancing host antitumor immunity.” J Control Release 269 (January 10, 2018): 364–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2017.11.021.