A research team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has shown that a nanoparticle-based vaccine can successfully prevent melanoma, pancreatic cancer, and triple-negative breast cancer in mice. Depending on the cancer type, as many as 88 percent of vaccinated mice remained free of tumors (depending on the cancer), and the approach reduced—and in some instances entirely blocked—the spread of cancer in the body.

“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 earlier work found that her nanoparticle-based drug design could shrink or eliminate existing tumors in mice. The new results reveal that the same technology also works as a preventative strategy.