This disclosure provides nano-scale Artificial Antigen Presenting Cells (aAPC), which deliver stimulatory signals to lymphocytes, including T-helper lymphocytes, for use as a powerful tool for immunotherapy.

The invention relates to bioactive surface coatings deposited on selected substrates. Surface nanostructured film coatings deposited on most metal or nonmetal substrates to provide surfaces can be engineered to promote enhanced tissue/cell adhesion. Attached cells, including osteoblasts, fibroblasts and endothelial cells, retain viability and will readily differentiate and proliferate under appropriate conditions. Fibroblasts and endothelial cells exhibit good attachment and growth on most coated substrates, except on nano surfaced structured silicone.

Disclosed herein is a material that may be useful as a coating for optical slides and medical implants. The material may aid or restrict grown of cells on a coating of the composite material. As such, there is provided a composite material having a substrate on the surface of which a coating layer of an amorphous metal oxide is formed. The metal oxide may be one or more of Ag.sub.2O, ZnO, ZrO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2, CuO, and Y.sub.2O.sub.3 and the coating layer may be from 5 to 100 nm thick and have a root mean square roughness of the coating surface is from 0.1 to 0.7 nm.

Provided is a method for producing a cell locating plate, including: a step of laminating a structural layer over a plane of a base material, the structural layer being a layer that is formed of a cell non-adhesive material and in which a plurality of holes are formed; a step of coating a coating liquid in the holes and over the plane of the base material exposed through the holes; and a step of discharging a cell suspension onto the plane coated with the coating liquid.

A method for expanding circulating tumor cell in vitro includes preparing a cell culture tool having a multi-particle colloidal crystal layer, preparing a cell solution including circulating tumor cells, and contacting the cell solution with the multi-particle colloidal crystal layer, to attach the circulating tumor cells in the cell solution to the multi-particle colloidal crystal layer and rapidly expand by 20 times or more. The multi-particle colloidal crystal layer at least includes first particles having a particle size of 1000 to 5000 nm and second particles having a particle size of 20 to 400 nm. The culture medium in the cell solution at least includes a platelet lysate.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a cell culture substratum which has excellent resistance to liquid culture media and low cytotoxicity, can achieve a high cell adhesion ratio and a high viability of cultured cells, has excellent thermal stability, and is less likely to absorbs ultraviolet ray. A cell culture substratum which is provided with a substrate made from an inorganic material and has multiple concavo-convex structures on a culturing surface thereof, wherein, when the concavo-convex structures are measured with an atomic force microscope in accordance with JISB0601 and JISR1683 (measured area: a 1 m-square, cut-off value of a low-pass contour curve filter: 1 nm, cut-off value of a high-pass contour curve filter: 170 nm), the average of the lengths of contour curve elements of the concavo-convex structures is 1 to 170 nm as measured in at least one direction (when a curve showing long-wavelength components that are blocked by the high-pass contour curve filter is converted to a straight line by the least square method, the average line is a line that is parallel with the straight line and indicates a height cumulative relative frequency distribution in the contour curve of 50%).

Embodiments herein described provide antigen-presenting cell-mimetic scaffolds (APC-MS) and use of such scaffolds to manipulating T-cells. More specifically, the scaffolds are useful for promoting growth, division, differentiation, expansion, proliferation, activity, viability, exhaustion, anergy, quiescence, apoptosis, or death of T-cells in various settings, e.g., in vitro, ex vivo, or in vivo. Embodiments described herein further relate to pharmaceutical compositions, kits, and packages containing such scaffolds. Additional embodiments relate to methods for making the scaffolds, compositions, and kits/packages. Also described herein are methods for using the scaffolds, compositions, and/or kits in the diagnosis or therapy of diseases such as cancers, immunodeficiency disorders, and/or autoimmune disorders.

A scaffold-free microtissue is disclosed that includes one or more gold nanostructures linked to a functional moiety, wherein the functional moiety is one or more vasculogenic peptides, one or more anti-inflammatory peptides, one or more antiapoptotic peptides, one or more antinecrotic peptides, one or more antioxidant peptides, one or more oligonucleotides, one or more lipid particles, one or more phospholipid particles, one or more liposomes, one or more nanoliposomes, one or more microRNAs, or one or more siRNAs. The scaffold-free microtissue further includes a plurality of cardiac myocytes or cardiac myoblasts, which are conjugated to the one or more gold nanostructures, wherein the plurality of cardiac myocytes or cardiac myoblasts are arranged in a cluster. The scaffold-free microtissue further includes a plurality of fibroblasts, wherein the fibroblasts are arranged in at least one layer of fibroblasts that substantially surrounds the cluster of gold-nanostructure-conjugated cardiac myocytes or gold-nanostructure-conjugated cardiac myoblasts.

Self-aligned fibrous scaffolds are disclosed. The scaffolds are capable of automechanoinduction of cell cultures and methods to induce authomechanoinduction in cancer cells and stem cells are disclosed as well.

A method for in vitro activation and/or expansion of immune cells is provided, including the steps of: a) providing magnetic particles having multi-protrusive surface modified with at least one type of immuno-inducing substance, in which each magnetic particle includes a copolymer core, a polymer layer, a magnetic substance layer, and a silicon-based layer from the inside to the outside; b) providing a cell solution including at least one type of immune cell in the cell solution; and c) bringing the magnetic particles in contact with the cell solution, in which the at least one type of immuno-inducing substance on the surface of the magnetic particle activates and/or expands the at least one type of immune cell in the cell solution.