Biomaterials as Tools to Decode Immunity

Abstract

The immune system has remarkable capabilities to combat disease with exquisite selectivity. This feature has enabled vaccines that provide protection for decades and, more recently, advances in immunotherapies that can cure some cancers. Greater control over how immune signals are presented, delivered, and processed will help drive even more powerful options that are also safe. Such advances will be underpinned by new tools that probe how immune signals are integrated by immune cells and tissues. Biomaterials are valuable resources to support this goal, offering robust, tunable properties. The growing role of biomaterials as tools to dissect immune function in fundamental and translational contexts is highlighted. These technologies can serve as tools to understand the immune system across molecular, cellular, and tissue length scales. A common theme is exploiting biomaterial features to rationally direct how specific immune cells or organs encounter a signal. This precision strategy, enabled by distinct material properties, allows isolation of immunological parameters or processes in a way that is challenging with conventional approaches. The utility of these capabilities is demonstrated through examples in vaccines for infectious disease and cancer immunotherapy, as well as settings of immune regulation that include autoimmunity and transplantation.

Tetrahedral Framework Nucleic Acid-Based Delivery of Resveratrol Alleviates Insulin Resistance: From Innate to Adaptive Immunity

“…To date, many therapeutic approaches have been developed which target inflammation to break the links between obesity and IR [14][15][16]; however, these strategies lack efficacy and immunomodulatory capacity. In recent years, nanoparticles have emerged as powerful tools to modulate initiate and immune responses, because of their inherent capacity to target antigen-presenting cells and deliver coordinated signals [17][18][19][20]. Tetrahedral framework nucleic acid (tFNA), a DNA nanomaterial, has attracted considerable attention for biomedical applications.…”

Implantable and Injectable Biomaterial Scaffolds for Cancer Immunotherapy

“…The research on the combination of biomaterials and immunotherapy are rapidly advancing to break the scientific barriers, and overcoming present immunotherapy deficiencies (Eppler and Jewell, 2020;Scheetz et al, 2019). Among these, implantable and injectable biomaterial scaffolds present a promising potential for biomaterial delivery systems (Zhao et al, 2019).…”

Nanotechnology-enhanced immunotherapy for metastatic cancer

“…Neutrophils or Tregs, which also play crucial roles in the innate immune response to tumors, are two other types of immune cells that nanomaterials have been used to mimic with the goal of inhibiting tumor growth. 140 , 141 , 142 It can be expected that the novel biomimetic nanomaterials that can simulate more other types of tumor-related immune cells will be developed in future research.…”