Artificial antigen-presenting cells (aAPCs) overcome many of the limitations of biologically based adoptive immunotherapy protocols. While these acellular systems can be designed with a variety of parameters, including material type, diameter, and proliferative signals for T cells, we outline methods to formulate and characterize a comprehensive polymeric microparticle aAPC platform. These aAPCs, which can be reproducibly fabricated in large quantities, efficiently stimulate antigen-specific T cell activation and proliferation by both paracrine cytokine signals and engagement of T cell surface proteins.
Keywords: Immunotherapy; Microparticle; PLGA; Paracrine delivery; Polymer; aAPC.