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Vol. 17 (2025)

Eliciting Dual-Niche Immunological Priming by Acupoint Delivery of Nanovaccines

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01789-y
Lu Wang
Shanghai Key Laboratory for Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Nanomedicine, Institute of Molecular Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Systems Medicine for Cancer, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, People’s Republic of China
Yanhong Sun
Institute of Materiobiology, Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People’s Republic of China
Meiling Yan
Division of Physical Biology and Bioimaging Center, Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, CAS Key Laboratory of Interfacial Physics and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, People’s Republic of China
Lihua Wang
Institute of Materiobiology, Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People’s Republic of China
Yiyang Wang
Division of Physical Biology and Bioimaging Center, Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, CAS Key Laboratory of Interfacial Physics and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, People’s Republic of China
Mengmeng Zhang
Shanghai Key Laboratory for Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Nanomedicine, Institute of Molecular Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Systems Medicine for Cancer, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, People’s Republic of China
Qian Li
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules and National Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Huangan Wu
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Immunological Effects, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of China
Jinyao Liu
Shanghai Key Laboratory for Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Nanomedicine, Institute of Molecular Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Systems Medicine for Cancer, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, People’s Republic of China
Chunhai Fan
Shanghai Key Laboratory for Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Nanomedicine, Institute of Molecular Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Systems Medicine for Cancer, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Chunhai Fan

fanchunhai@sjtu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 17 (2025), Article Number: 280

Abstract

Immunization has long played essential roles in preventing diseases. However, the desire for precision delivery of vaccines to boost a robust immune response remains largely unmet. Here, we describe the use of acupoint delivery of nanovaccines (ADN) to elicit dual-niche immunological priming. ADN can simultaneously stimulate mast cell-assisted maturation of dendritic cells at the acupoint and enable direct delivery of nanovaccines into the draining lymph nodes. We demonstrate that ADN not only provokes antigen presentation by lymph node-resident CD8α+ dendritic cells, but also induces the accumulation of nanovaccines in B-cell zones, amplifying antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses and immunoglobulin G antibody expression in draining lymph nodes. ADN also generates systemic immune responses by causing immune memory and preventing T-cell anergy in the spleen. Further supported by evoking effective antitumor responses and high-level antiviral antibodies in mice, ADN provides a simple yet versatile platform for advanced nanovaccination.


Highlights:
1 We report the use of acupoint delivery of nanovaccines (NVs) to elicit a dual-niche immunological priming by simultaneously stimulating mast cell-assisted maturation of CD11b+ dendritic cells (DCs) at the acupoint and directly enriching NVs into the draining lymph nodes (dLNs).
2 The dual-niche immunological priming not only provokes antigen presentation by LN-resident CD8α+ DCs, but also induces the accumulation of NVs in B-cell zones, highlights a facile yet versatile platform for advanced nanovaccination toward tumor therapy and infection prevention.

Keywords

Nanovaccines Acupoint Drug delivery Antigen presentation Immunization
Wang, Lu, Yanhong Sun, Meiling Yan, Lihua Wang, Yiyang Wang, Mengmeng Zhang, Qian Li, Huangan Wu, Jinyao Liu, and Chunhai Fan. 2025. “Eliciting Dual-Niche Immunological Priming by Acupoint Delivery of Nanovaccines”. Nano-Micro Letters 17 (May):280. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01789-y.
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