Engineered lymphocytes to treat dinitrobenzene sulphonic acid colitis in mice

Current treatments of inflammatory bowel diseases are limited either by their lack of efficacy or their potential toxicity. In recent years, major advances have been obtained by the development of biological therapies. However, these types of treatment are systemic and can lead to serious adverse events. The new venue of local biological treatments would be most welcome. In this issue of the Journal, Castagliuolo et al. show that lymphocytes engineered to produce TGF-beta1 can reverse dinitrobenzene sulphonic acid-induced colitis in mice. These engineered lymphocytes selectively accumulate in the intestinal mucosa due to the homing properties of their alpha4beta7 integrins, a ligand for MAdCAM1. A local treatment restricted to the inflamed mucosa can thus be obtained. This opens a brand new area of research with the hope of restoring the immunoregulatory balance selectively in the inflamed tissues.