Application of microneedles combined with dendritic cell-targeted nanovaccine delivery system in percutaneous immunotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer

Abstract This work aims at developing a strategy to activate the antigen-presenting cells to enhance the effect of immunotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) through the dissolving microneedle patch (DMNP). In present study, mannosylated chitosan (MCS) nanoparticles (NPs) were designed to target dendritic cells (DCs), and the immunotherapy effect was enhanced by the adjuvant Bacillus Calmette–Guerin polysaccharide (BCG-PSN), achieving the purpose of transdermal immunotherapy for TNBC. Vaccination studies with mice demonstrated that MCS NPs effectively induce DCs maturation in the tumor-draining lymph nodes to stimulate strong immune responses in TNBC. Overall, chitosan-based DMNPs with complex adjuvant constituted a new potent transdermal vaccine delivery platform capable of exploiting more DCs in the skin for effective immunization.