Engineering antigen-presenting cells for immunotherapy of autoimmunity

Clinton T Smith; Zhenyu Wang; Jamal S Lewis

doi:10.1016/j.addr.2024.115329

Engineering antigen-presenting cells for immunotherapy of autoimmunity

Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2024 May 8:210:115329. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2024.115329. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Clinton T Smith¹, Zhenyu Wang¹, Jamal S Lewis²

Affiliations

¹ J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
² J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: jlewis@bme.ufl.edu.

PMID: 38729265
DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2024.115329

Abstract

Autoimmune diseases are burdensome conditions that affect a significant fraction of the global population. The hallmark of autoimmune disease is a host's immune system being licensed to attack its tissues based on specific antigens. There are no cures for autoimmune diseases. The current clinical standard for treating autoimmune diseases is the administration of immunosuppressants, which weaken the immune system and reduce auto-inflammatory responses. However, people living with autoimmune diseases are subject to toxicity, fail to mount a sufficient immune response to protect against pathogens, and are more likely to develop infections. Therefore, there is a concerted effort to develop more effective means of targeting immunomodulatory therapies to antigen-presenting cells, which are involved in modulating the immune responses to specific antigens. In this review, we highlight approaches that are currently in development to target antigen-presenting cells and improve therapeutic outcomes in autoimmune diseases.

Keywords: Antigen-presenting cells; Autoimmunity; Biomaterials; Drug delivery; Immunomodulation.

Publication types

Review