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Updated: Aug 12, 2026
Intra-lymph Node Injection of Biodegradable Polymer Particles
Published on: January 2, 2014
Physical and chemical profiles of nanoparticles for lymphatic targeting
Xiyu Ke1, Gregory P Howard2, Haoyu Tang3
1Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
Abstract:
Nanoparticles (NPs) have been gaining prominence as delivery vehicles for modulating immune responses to improve treatments against cancer and autoimmune diseases, enhancing tissue regeneration capacity, and potentiating vaccination efficacy. Various engineering approaches have been extensively explored to control the NP physical and chemical properties including particle size, shape, surface charge, hydrophobicity, rigidity and surface targeting ligands to modulate immune responses. This review examines a specific set of physical and chemical characteristics of NPs that enable efficient delivery targeted to secondary lymphoid tissues, specifically the lymph nodes and immune cells. A critical analysis of the structure-property-function relationship will facilitate further efforts to engineer new NPs with unique functionalities, identify novel utilities, and improve the clinical translation of NP formulations for immunotherapy.
