Vaccine's Carefully Organized Structure Boosts Cancer-Fighting Immunity

Northwestern University scientists discover subtle changes in vaccine design can dramatically improve its ability to shrink tumors and extend survival in preclinical models of HPV-driven cancers.

Published on Feb. 11, 2026

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A team of Northwestern University scientists has developed a therapeutic cancer vaccine that supercharges the immune system's ability to attack HPV-driven tumors. By deliberately rearranging the components of a spherical nucleic acid (SNA) vaccine, the researchers found that a subtle change in the orientation of a single cancer-targeting peptide can lead to formulations that dramatically shrink tumors and extend survival in animal models and patient-derived tumor samples.

Why it matters

HPV causes most cervical cancers and a rapidly growing portion of head and neck cancers. While existing HPV vaccines can prevent the viral infection, they do not help patients fight cancer after it has already developed. This new vaccine approach could transform the treatment of HPV-driven cancers by unleashing a potent immune response to destroy tumors.

The details

The team designed multiple therapeutic vaccine versions, each containing the same ingredients but with different placements and orientations of the HPV-derived peptide fragment, or antigen. The vaccine that displayed the antigen on the particle's surface, attached via its N-terminus, triggered a much stronger immune attack compared to the other versions. The killer T cells produced up to eight times more interferon-gamma, a key anti-tumor signal, and were far more effective at killing HPV-positive cancer cells. In animal models and patient-derived tumor samples, this vaccine design significantly slowed tumor growth.

  • The study was published on February 11, 2026.

The players

Chad A. Mirkin

The George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Medicine at Northwestern University, where he has appointments in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He is also the founding director of the International Institute of Nanotechnology and a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

Dr. Jochen Lorch

A professor of medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine and the medical oncology director of the Head and Neck Cancer Program at Northwestern Medicine.

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What they’re saying

“There are thousands of variables in the large, complex medicines that define vaccines. The promise of structural nanomedicine is being able to identify from the myriad possibilities the configurations that lead to the greatest efficacy and least toxicity. In other words, we can build better medicines from the bottom up.”

— Chad A. Mirkin (northwestern.edu)

“This effect did not come from adding new ingredients or increasing the dose. It came from presenting the same components in a smarter way. The immune system is sensitive to the geometry of molecules. By optimizing how we attach the antigen to the SNA, the immune cells processed it more efficiently.”

— Dr. Jochen Lorch (northwestern.edu)

What’s next

The researchers envision that artificial intelligence will play a crucial role in the future of vaccine design, as machine-learning algorithms could swiftly comb through the nearly endless combinations of components to pinpoint the most effective structures.

The takeaway

This study demonstrates how a subtle change in the arrangement of a vaccine's components can dramatically boost its ability to stimulate a potent anti-tumor immune response. By applying the principles of 'structural nanomedicine,' the researchers were able to transform a previously ineffective vaccine into a powerful cancer-fighting tool, highlighting the promise of this approach for developing more effective cancer immunotherapies.