Immunoengineering: Prospects for Correction of Age-Related Immunodeficiency States

Walford, Roy L.; Meredith, Patricia; Cheney, Kay E.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-2541-3_13

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The majority of this type of research can be coined as immunoengineering. The term immunoengineering has been used since the seventies and covers several aspects in the field of immunology ( 30 ). Immunoengineering is an interdisciplinary and vast field of research comprising engineering methods and approaches that allow the modulation of the immune system and its responses: biomaterials, tissue engineering, protein engineering, synthetic biology, and drug delivery systems [Figure 1 ; ( 31 – 34 )].…”

Section: Introduction: Immunoengineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Immunology and Microfluidics for Single Immune Cell Analysis

2018

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The field of immunoengineering aims to develop novel therapies and modern vaccines to manipulate and modulate the immune system and applies innovative technologies toward improved understanding of the immune system in health and disease. Microfluidics has proven to be an excellent technology for analytics in biology and chemistry. From simple microsystem chips to complex microfluidic designs, these platforms have witnessed an immense growth over the last decades with frequent emergence of new designs. Microfluidics provides a highly robust and precise tool which led to its widespread application in single-cell analysis of immune cells. Single-cell analysis allows scientists to account for the heterogeneous behavior of immune cells which often gets overshadowed when conventional bulk study methods are used. Application of single-cell analysis using microfluidics has facilitated the identification of several novel functional immune cell subsets, quantification of signaling molecules, and understanding of cellular communication and signaling pathways. Single-cell analysis research in combination with microfluidics has paved the way for the development of novel therapies, point-of-care diagnostics, and even more complex microfluidic platforms that aid in creating in vitro cellular microenvironments for applications in drug and toxicity screening. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview on the integration of microsystems and microfluidics with immunology and focus on different designs developed to decode single immune cell behavior and cellular communication. We have categorized the microfluidic designs in three specific categories: microfluidic chips with cell traps, valve-based microfluidics, and droplet microfluidics that have facilitated the ongoing research in the field of immunology at single-cell level.

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Section: Introduction: Immunoengineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Immunology and Microfluidics for Single Immune Cell Analysis

2018

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“…It is a legitimate concern, for anthropologists in particular, that someone could misunderstand the finding and erroneously state that malnutrition has positive effects, such as larger adult size and longer lifespan. However, studies (e.g., Lamb, 1977) make a distinction between malnutrition and diets which are nutritionally complete, but have fewer calories (Schneider and Reed, 1985;Golla et al, 1981;Hall, personal communication, unpublished data;Walford et al, 1977). Moreover, to produce larger adult size and enhanced health it is frequently stated in these studies that early stress must be of specific timing, type, duration, and severity (see Whiting et al, 1978).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is poor early growth related to adult immune aging? A follow‐up study

Clark

Aldwin

Hall

et al. 1989

American J Hum Biol

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Thymosin alpha 1 (TSN-a,) is produced by the thymus gland, regulates immune function, and measures thymic involution. Poor early growth permanently stunts size and function in features ceasing growth early, such as vertebral neural canals (VNCs) and the thymus gland (resulting in decreased TSN-a,). The purpose of this study was to follow-up prior research (Clark et al.:Hum. Biol. 60:435451, 1988) demonstrating that healthy adults (n = 16) with lower levels of TSN-a, had significantly smaller VNCs and greater sitting height. If true, these relationships should still exist later in time. Consequently, TSN-a, was remeasured in 13 of the original men 2.5 years later. Bivariate analyses showed that lower TSN-a, serum levels still tended to correlate with smaller VNCs (r = 52; P = .065). These results were similar to the original study (VNCs r = .47; P < .05). In a stepwise regression, age, weight, height, sitting height, fasting cortisol, and VNC were used to predict fasting TSN-a,. As in the first study, only sitting height and VNC entered the equation. Together, they explained 57% of the variation (P = .Ol), markedly similar to the 54% (P < .05) explained by the first study. Thus, even though this was a small sample, this stability over time strengthens the hypothesis that poor early growth permanently lowers TSN-a,. Nonetheless, these studies are pilot studies and should still be viewed with caution.

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