In Situ Gel Vaccine: Turning Tumors into Their Own Cancer Vaccine 把腫瘤變成自己的疫苗工廠

What if a tumor could be transformed into a vaccine factory inside the body? We developed an in situ gel vaccine, an injectable gel that slowly releases three coordinated therapies directly within the tumor: a STING activator to trigger immune alarm signals, a chemotherapy drug to kill cancer cells and release tumor antigens, and an immune checkpoint blocker to remove the brakes on T cells. Once injected, the gel forms a small depot at body temperature, allowing sustained immune stimulation instead of a short, temporary response. This approach activates dendritic cells—the immune system’s “teachers”—which then train killer T cells to recognize and attack cancer, not only at the original tumor site but also at distant metastases. In aggressive and immune-resistant cancer models, this strategy slowed tumor growth, reduced recurrence after surgery, and improved survival. Our goal is to convert silent tumors into powerful engines of anti-cancer immunity.

如果腫瘤本身可以變成對抗癌症的武器，會怎麼樣？我們開發了一種「原位凝膠疫苗」，是一種可以直接注射到腫瘤裡的溫感凝膠。它在體內會變成小型藥物儲存庫，緩慢釋放三種關鍵成分：激活免疫細胞的 STING 活化劑、殺死癌細胞並釋放腫瘤抗原的化療藥物，以及解除免疫煞車的免疫檢查點抑制劑。這種設計不僅能刺激免疫，且能持續訓練免疫系統。樹突細胞被活化後，會訓練殺手 T 細胞辨認並攻擊癌細胞，不只對原本的腫瘤有效，也能對付遠端轉移。我們的目標是把原本沉默、免疫逃避的腫瘤，轉變成主動啟動抗癌免疫反應的強力引擎。

Robust and Sustained STING Activation via Hydrogel-Based In-Situ Vaccination for Cancer Immunotherapy. ACS Nano 18(43):29439-29456.