Induction of Antigen-Specific Tolerance in a Multiple Sclerosis Model without Broad Immunosuppression.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a severe autoimmune disorder that wreaks havoc on the central nervous system, leading to a spectrum of motor and cognitive impairments. There is no cure, and current treatment strategies rely on broad immunosuppression, leaving patients vulnerable to infections. To address this problem, our approach aims to induce antigen-specific tolerance, a much-needed shift in MS therapy.

Microparticle and nanoparticle-based influenza vaccines.

Influenza infections are a health public problem worldwide every year with the potential to become the next pandemic. Vaccination is the most effective strategy to prevent future influenza outbreaks, however, influenza vaccines need to be reformulated each year to provide protection due to viral antigenic drift and shift. As more efficient influenza vaccines are needed, it is relevant to recapitulate strategies to improve the immunogenicity and broad reactivity of the current vaccines.

Comparison of emulsion and spray methods for fabrication of rapamycin-loaded acetalated dextran microparticles.

Rapamycin (rapa), an immunosuppressive medication, has demonstrated considerable effectiveness in reducing organ transplant rejection and treating select autoimmune diseases. However, the standard oral administration of rapa results in poor bioavailability, broad biodistribution, and harmful off-target effects, necessitating improved drug delivery formulations. Polymeric microparticles (MPs) are one such solution and have demonstrated promise in pre-clinical studies to improve the therapeutic efficacy of rapa.

Modifying Post-Surgical Immunity: Controlled Release of TLR7/8 Agonist for Immune Mediated Clearance of Glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain cancer with a dismal prognosis despite current therapeutic interventions. Tumor resection is standard-of-care for glioblastoma and has profound immunostimulatory effects. Resulting in a nadir in tumor burden, resection offers a unique opportunity to break local immune tolerance and mount an effective anti-tumor immune response.

Microparticles incorporating dual apoptotic factors to inhibit inflammatory effects in macrophages.

New approaches to treat autoimmune diseases are needed, and we can be inspired by mechanisms in immune tolerance to guide the design of these approaches. Efferocytosis, the process of phagocyte-mediated apoptotic cell (AC) disposal, represents a potent tolerogenic mechanism that we could draw inspiration from to restore immune tolerance to specific autoantigens. ACs engage multiple avenues of the immune response to redirect aberrant immune responses.

Polymeric cGAMP microparticles affect the immunogenicity of a broadly active influenza mRNA lipid nanoparticle vaccine.

Influenza outbreaks are a major burden worldwide annually. While seasonal vaccines do provide protection against infection, they are limited in that they need to be updated every year to account for the constantly mutating virus. Recently, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) encapsulating mRNA have seen major success as a vaccine platform for SARS-CoV-2.

Enhancement of subunit vaccine delivery with zinc-carnosine coordination polymer through the addition of mannan.

Vaccines represent a pivotal health advancement for preventing infection. However, because carrier systems with repeated administration can invoke carrier-targeted immune responses that diminish subsequent immune responses (e.g.

Multi-COBRA hemagglutinin formulated with cGAMP microparticles elicit protective immune responses against influenza viruses.

Influenza viruses cause a common respiratory disease known as influenza. In humans, seasonal influenza viruses can lead to epidemics, with avian influenza viruses of particular concern because they can infect multiple species and lead to unpredictable and severe disease. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a universal influenza vaccine that provides protection against seasonal and pre-pandemic influenza virus strains.

Distribution of Female and Male First and Last Authorship across Drug Delivery Related Journals with Respect to Year and Journal Impact Factor.

First and last authorship are important metrics of productivity and scholarly success for trainees and professors. For 11 drug delivery-related journals in 2021, the percentage of female first (39.5%) and last (25.

Development of a broadly active influenza intranasal vaccine adjuvanted with self-assembled particles composed of mastoparan-7 and CpG.

Currently licensed vaccine adjuvants offer limited mucosal immunity, which is needed to better combat respiratory infections such as influenza. Mast cells (MCs) are emerging as a target for a new class of mucosal vaccine adjuvants. Here, we developed and characterized a nanoparticulate adjuvant composed of an MC activator [mastoparan-7 (M7)] and a TLR ligand (CpG).

Micro and nanotechnologies: The little formulations that could.

The first publication of micro- and nanotechnology in medicine was in 1798 with the use of the Cowpox virus by Edward Jenner as an attenuated vaccine against Smallpox. Since then, there has been an explosion of micro- and nanotechnologies for medical applications. The breadth of these micro- and nanotechnologies is discussed in this piece, presenting the date of their first report and their latest progression (e.

Drug Delivery Systems for Localized Cancer Combination Therapy.

With over 2 million cancer cases and over 600,000 cancer-associated deaths predicted in the U.S. for 2022, this life-debilitating disease continuously impacts the lives of people across the nation every day.

Preclinical developments in the delivery of protein antigens for vaccination.

Introduction: Vaccine technology has constantly advanced since its origin. One of these advancements is where purified parts of a pathogen are used rather than the whole pathogen. Subunit vaccines have no chance of causing disease; however, alone these antigens are often poorly immunogenic.

Vinyl Sulfone-functionalized Acetalated Dextran Microparticles as a Subunit Broadly Acting Influenza Vaccine.

Influenza is a global health concern with millions of infections occurring yearly. Seasonal flu vaccines are one way to combat this virus; however, they are poorly protective against influenza as the virus is constantly mutating, particularly at the immunodominant hemagglutinin (HA) head group. A more broadly acting approach involves Computationally Optimized Broadly Reactive Antigen (COBRA).

Metal-organic coordination polymers for delivery of immunomodulatory agents, and infectious disease and cancer vaccines.

Metal-organic coordination polymers (CPs) are a broad class of materials that include metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). CPs are highly ordered crystalline materials that are composed of metal ions (or metal ion clusters) and multidentate organic ligands that serve as linkers. One-, two-, and three-dimensional CPs can be formed, with 2D and 3D structures referred to as MOFs.