Journal of Nanomedicine & Nanotechnology

Dendritic cells stimulated by cationic liposomes prepared via the ethanol injection method

3^rd International Conference on Nanotek & Expo

December 02-04, 2013 Hampton Inn Tropicana, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Micaela Tamara Vitor, Bergami-Santos P. C, Barbuto J. A. M and De La Torre L. G

Accepted Abstracts: J Nanomed Nanotechnol

Abstract:

Cancer is a disease that afflicts mankind, hence many treatments are being employed to combat it, such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and more recently, biological therapy emerges as a promising technique. Immunotherapy is a branch of biological therapy, which attempts to exploit the immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells. For that, patients? T lymphocytes must be presented to antigens by activated dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with tumor antigens, which can be delivered by cationic liposomes. We showed that cationic liposomes composed by egg phosphatidylcholine (EPC), 1,2-dioleoyl-3- trimethylammonium propane (DOTAP) and 1,2-dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) complexed with hsp-65-DNA have low citotoxicity in vitro and, used as nucleic acid delivery system in the intranasal route, a potential role as a tuberculosis vaccine. Here we investigate the effects of similar cationic liposomes upon dendritic cells differentiation/maturation in vitro . We developed cationic liposomes EPC/DOTAP/DOPE (50/25/25% molar) prepared via the ethanol injection method (ST-liposomes) (94% of the population with diameter of 85?5 nm and polydispersity of 0.54) and the same liposomes followed by microfluidization (SM- liposomes) (99% of the population with diameter of 40 ? 14 nm and polydispersity of 0.40). Afterward, these cationic liposomes were in vitro evaluated for their ability to stimulate dendritic cells differentiation/maturation. The phenotypic analysis of DCs was performed by flow cytometry and showed that both cationic liposomes were incorporated and activated DCs. These results demonstrate the ability of cationic liposomes to active DCs in vitro , which could be used as a potential tool in further strategies in cancer immunotherapy.

Biography :

Micaela Tamara Vitor has graduated in Food Engineering from Federal University of Vi?osa in 2005. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student at University of Campinas, where she develops nanoparticles to gene delivery in vitro for mammalian cells. Recently, she published a review article of her research group, in the field of nanobiotechnology, in collaboration with a group of immunologists from University of S?o Paulo