Niosomes as Biocompatible Scaffolds for the Multivalent Presentation of Tumor-Associated Antigens (TACAs) to the Immune System

Abstract

Fully synthetic tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen (TACA)-based vaccines are a promising strategy to treat cancer. To overcome the intrinsic low immunogenicity of TACAs, the choice of the antigens' analogues and multivalent presentation have been proved to be successful. Here, we present the preparation, characterization, and <i>in vitro</i> screening of niosomes displaying multiple copies of the mucin antigen TnThr (niosomes-<b>7</b>) or of TnThr mimetic <b>1</b> (niosomes-<b>2</b>). Unprecedentedly, structural differences, likely related to the carbohydrate portions, were observed for the two colloidal systems. Both niosomal systems are stable, nontoxic and endowed with promising immunogenic properties.