Antigen-specific immune suppression or tolerance is a highly attractive strategy to prevent inflammation-induced tissue damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although there is insufficient knowledge about autoantigens in human RA, generating and expanding synovium-specific regulatory T cells, and suppressing synovium-specific follicular T-helper cells,...

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell-based immunotherapies have dramatically improved survival in cancer patients. Unfortunately, CAR-T cell therapies are associated with severe neurotoxicity, adverse events during clinical trials, and cytokine storm syndrome among others. Therefore, there is a great need to develop strategies that can keep the benefits...

There is a great need to deliver metabolites intracellularly without modifying the metabolite itself and rescue immune cells against metabolic exhaustion. In cancer therapy, metabolic pathway inhibitors are used that starve both cancerous cells as well as non-cancerous cells. Therefore, the ability to target specific immune cells and deliver metabolites...

Inhibition of glycolysis or glutaminase pathway is an effective strategy to prevent cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. However, these pathways are also utilized by immune cells to mount responses against cancer cells, and therefore, utilizing, immunotherapies in the presence of such inhibitors is challenging. Thus, there is a need for technologies...

There is a rich history of successful drug delivery carriers made of biodegradable biomaterials. Biomaterials may degrade into metabolic by-products, which are capable of modulating the function of immune cells, including alpha-ketoglutarate (aKG), which induces alternative activation (immunosuppressive phenotype) in macrophages through metabolic reprogramming....

Glycolysis inhibition in cancer cells has long been recognized as a viable strategy to prevent cancer cell growth. Cancer cells are known to have a high glucose consumption rate as a metabolism adaptation mechanism called the Warburg effect. Activated immune cells also rely on glycolysis for their energy needs. For example, glycolysis is essential for...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major source of death and long-term physical, cognitive and mental disability worldwide, with roughly 27 million new cases each year. In the U.S. alone, this results in almost 70,000 deaths, annually. Although TBIs can affect people of all ages, the risk of getting a TBI is greatest in adolescents, young adults and...

­ Nitric oxide (NO), and other gases, are utilized by the body to modulate immune responses in wound repair, tissue engineering, infection treatment and more. Much research has been spent developing materials that can deliver such gases in vivo, yet their labile nature makes delivery in a controlled fashion and with release of clinically relevant...