Iron oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles conjugated with a conformationally blocked -Tn antigen mimetic for macrophage activation

With the aim to develop fully synthetic immunostimulants we have recently developed a mimetic of the a-Tn mucin antigen, a relevant tumor antigen. The 4C1 blocked mimetic, unique example of an a-Tn mimetic antigen, was functionalized with an u-phosphonate linker and used to decorate iron oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), employed as multivalent carriers. The superparamagnetic glyconanoparticles obtained, named GMNPs were tested in vitro to evaluate their effects on macrophage activation. It was succesfully demonstrated that they were able to activate macrophage effector functions, inducing gene expression and protein release of TNF-a.