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Leveraging the Modularity of Biomaterial Carriers to Tune Immune Responses
Author(s) -
Tsai Shan J.,
Black Sheneil K.,
Jewell Christopher M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.202004119
Subject(s) - biomaterial , immune system , modularity (biology) , immunotherapy , modular design , materials science , cancer immunotherapy , autoimmunity , nanotechnology , computer science , biology , immunology , genetics , operating system
Biomaterial carriers offer modular features to control the delivery and presentation of vaccines and immunotherapies. This tunability is a distinct capability of biomaterials. Understanding how tunable material features impact immune responses is important to improve vaccine and immunotherapy design, as well as clinical translation. Here the modularity of biomaterial properties is discussed as a means of controlling encounters with immune signals across scales—tissue, cell, molecular, and time—and ultimately, to direct stimulation or regulation of immune function. These advances are highlighted using illustrations from recent literature across infectious disease, cancer, and autoimmunity. As the immune engineering field matures, informed design criteria could support more rational biomaterial carriers for vaccination and immunotherapy.