Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 47: Focus Session: Controlling Microparticles and Biological Cells by Ultrasound (joint session BP/CPP/DY)

CPP 47.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 12, 2026, 10:15–10:45, BAR/0106

Mechanogenetics for Cell ImmunoTherapy — •Yingxiao Wang — 1002 childs way, Los Angeles, CA 90089

Cell-based cancer immunotherapy is a promising therapeutic intervention for cancer treatment. However, non-specific toxicity against healthy tissues (e.g. off-tumor toxicity) is a major hurdle for solid tumor treatment. We have developed controllable on-switch gene cassettes in which a specific antigen production on the target cancer cell can be remotely and mechanically induced by an external focused ultrasound (FUS). FUS was applied to stimulate the production of the synthetic and clinically validated antigen on tumor cell surface orthogonal to the endogenous proteins. SynNotch was further engineered into primary human T cells (SynNotch-CAR T) to recognize the synthetic antigen expressed on the ultrasound-induced tumor cells and activate the production of CAR, which can lead to the recognition of a native tumor specific antigen (TSA) universally expressed on the whole population of tumor cells for immunotherapy. We applied this system to treat prostate cancer cells whose locally metastasized tumors are confined in space but intermingled with vessels and nerves. Our results showed that FUS can mechanically induce the synthetic antigen production in prostate cancer cells, which results in the engagement and activation of SynNotch CAR T cells for the tumor eradication. This local activation of engineered tumor cells by FUS should allow a high precision and safety in eradicating tumors. Hence, this approach for immunotherapy should open new opportunities to integrate engineering mechanics with genetic medicine for successful translation.

Keywords: ultrasound,; Mechanobiology; cancer immunotherapy; CAR; SynNotch