Self-Assembly as a Molecular Strategy to Improve Immunotherapy
Eugene Froimchuk1, Sean T Carey1, Camilla Edwards1
1Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States.
Accounts of Chemical Research
|October 19, 2020
Summary
Self-assembled biomaterials offer precise control over immune cues for enhanced cancer and autoimmune disease immunotherapies. These engineered materials improve specificity and potency, addressing limitations of current treatments.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Immunology
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Immunotherapies leverage the immune system to combat cancer and autoimmune diseases.
- Current immunotherapies face challenges including limited efficacy, patient subset specificity, and off-target side effects.
- Self-assembled biomaterials present a promising avenue to overcome these limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight how self-assembly principles, driven by hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions, are utilized to engineer advanced immunotherapies.
- To explore the potential of self-assembled biomaterials in creating more specific, potent, and personalized treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases.
- To review recent advances and design principles in self-assembled immunotherapeutics.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing hydrophobic interactions to create structures like peptide nanofibers and micelle-like particles.
- Employing electrostatic interactions for layer-by-layer assembly of immune signals into hollow capsules and microneedle patches.
- Exploring one-step assembly and hydrogen bonding for self-assembly of therapeutic components.
Main Results:
- Hydrophobic interactions enable the formation of diverse structures with tunable immune-stimulating properties.
- Micelle-like particles incorporating tumor antigens demonstrate the impact of antigen dose and display density on immune response.
- Electrostatic assembly platforms, such as layer-by-layer capsules, have shown complete disease prevention in preclinical models.
- Engineered self-assembly provides precision control over immune cue presentation, enhancing selectivity and potency.
Conclusions:
- Self-assembled biomaterials offer significant advantages for developing next-generation immunotherapies.
- These materials enable precise control over immune responses, potentially leading to more effective and personalized treatments.
- Further research and clinical translation are needed to fully realize the potential of self-assembled immunotherapeutics.
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