“By engineering these nanoparticles to activate the immune system via multi-pathway activation that combines with cancer-specific antigens, we can prevent tumor growth with remarkable survival rates,” says Prabhani Atukorale, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the Riccio College of Engineering at UMass Amherst and corresponding author on the paper.

Atukorale’s previous research showed that her novel nanoparticle-based drug design can shrink and clear cancer tumors in mice. Now, she’s demonstrated that it can also work preventively.

The first test paired her nanoparticle system with well-characterized melanoma peptides (called an antigen, similar to how a flu shot typically contains parts of the inactivated flu virus). The formulation activated immune cells called T cells, priming them to recognize and attack this type of cancer. Three weeks later, the mice were exposed to melanoma cells.