摘要Background:Targeted T-cell therapy has emerged as a promising strategy for the treatment of hematological malignancies.However,its application to solid tumors presents significant challenges due to the limited accessibility and heterogeneity.Localized delivery of tumor-specific T-cells using biomaterials has shown promise,however,procedures required for genetic modification and generation of a sufficient number of tumor-specific T-cells ex vivo remain major obstacles due to cost and time constraints.Methods:Polyethylene glycol(PEG)-based three-dimensional(3D)scaffolds were developed and conjugated with positively charged poly-L-lysine(PLL)using carbamide chemistry for efficient loading of lentiviruses(LVs)carrying tumor antigen-specific T-cell receptors(TCRs).The physical and biological properties of the scaffold were extensively characterized.Further,the scaffold loaded with OVA-TCR LVs was implanted in B16F10 cells expressing ovalbumin(B16-OVA)tumor model to evaluate the anti-tumor response and the presence of transduced T-cells.Results:Our findings demonstrate that the scaffolds do not induce any systemic inflammation upon subcutaneous implantation and effectively recruit T-cells to the site.In B16-OVA melanoma tumor-bearing mice,the scaffolds efficiently transduce host T-cells with OVA-specific TCRs.These genetically modified T-cells exhibit homing capability towards the tumor and secondary lymphoid organs,resulting in a significant reduction of tumor size and systemic increase in anti-tumor cytokines.Immune cell profiling revealed a significantly high percentage of transduced T-cells and a notable reduction in suppressor immune cells within the tumors of mice implanted with these scaffolds.Conclusions:Our scaffold-based T-cell therapy presents an innovative in situ localized approach for programming T-cells to target solid tumors.This approach offers a viable alternative to in vitro manipulation of T-cells,circumventing the need for large-scale in vitro generation and culture of tumor-specific T-cells.It offers an off-the-shelf alternative that facilitates the use of host cells instead of allogeneic cells,thereby,overcoming a major hurdle.