Pukyong National University

’Developed of a complex material’ that activates immune cells by selecting only cancer cells
 Professor Kwak Min-seok of PKNU and Professor Jin Jun-oh of Yeungnam Universit Research Team

Korean researchers are attracting attention by developing complex materials that can activate immune cells by selecting only cancer cells. Professor Kwak Min-seok (Department of Chemistry) and Prof. Jin Jun-oh (Department of Biomedical Engineering), Yeungnam University One nucleic acid complex called INA (Immunotherapeutic nucleic acid). The team used protein fragments (antigenic peptides) with characteristic sequences found in cancer cells to learn to accurately recognize cancer cells, and activated immune cells with DNA fragments (CpG sequences) to stimulate receptors on immune cells. As a result of administering the synthesized compound ’INA’ to a mouse model with melanoma, immune cells (T cells) that selectively respond to melanoma-specific protein fragments proliferate and inflammatory protein (Cytokine), which means immune activity. It has been shown to inhibit the growth of melanoma and epithelial cell carcinoma, such as confirming the secretion. ’INA’ is expected to be used for the development of vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases as well as for the manufacture of vaccines for cancer prevention, such as securing biocompatibility by using DNA fragments and lipid chains present in vivo. The research paper, Soft Matter DNA Nanoparticles Hybridized with CpG Motifs and Peptide Nucleic Acids Enable Immunological Treatment of Cancer (Journal of Controlled Release, was published October 19 in the Journal of Controlled Release, an international journal of pharmacy. <기사보기 클릭!>



△ The image of anti-cancer effect confirmed by ’INA’.


4 November 2019

연구진
  곽민석 교수 mkwak@pukyong.ac.kr
  부경대학교 자연과학대학  나노화학&하이브리드 재료 연구실