Engineered polysaccharides for controlling innate and adaptive immune responses.

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Specific T cell activation is crucial for vaccines and immunotherapies but remains challenging.
• Microbial polysaccharides are potent immunomodulators interacting with pathogen-recognition receptors (PRRs).
• These interactions trigger robust immune responses, modulating T cell function and activating immune pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the role of polysaccharides as PAMPs recognized by PRRs.
• To explore the immunomodulatory potential of polysaccharides for biomedical applications.
• To examine the engineering aspects and applications of polysaccharides in vaccines, immunoadjuvants, immune modulation, and drug delivery.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on polysaccharides, PRRs, and immune responses.
• Analysis of polysaccharide engineering principles for biomedical applications.
• Exploration of polysaccharide-induced trained immunity.

Main Results:

• Polysaccharides function as PAMPs, activating dendritic cells and macrophages via PRRs.
• They exhibit immune-activating and immune-regulatory functions, impacting T cell responses.
• Polysaccharides can induce trained immunity, enhancing responsiveness to pathogens.

Conclusions:

• Polysaccharides are promising immunomodulators with diverse biomedical applications.
• Materials engineering of polysaccharides can lead to effective vaccines and immunotherapies.
• These compounds hold potential for treating autoimmune diseases and other conditions.