2023-06-15 09:41:54
ENGINEERINGNET.BE – Sepsis is a life-threatening disease in which the immune system is disrupted by an infection with a bacteria, fungus or virus.
This disruption can consist of an excessive immune response, so-called hyperinflammation. As a result, tissues are damaged and organs fail.
On the other hand, the immune system can also become exhausted, so much so that it becomes paralyzed. We call this immune paralysis: the body is therefore not resistant to a new infection.
For years, scientists worldwide have been searching for an effective therapy against sepsis. This involves a search for a remedy that counteracts the overreaction and paralysis of the immune system.
A challenge here is that a possible remedy for overreaction also leads to paralysis.
Immunologists at Radboud university medical center in the Netherlands discovered in a petri dish with immune cells that the cytokine interleukin-4 counteracts inflammation, while unexpectedly generating trained immunity.
Trained immunity is the part of our innate immune system that has a learning capacity and thus strengthens our immune system.
This paradoxical property can be used to treat sepsis. Interleukin-4 must target immune cells in the human body.
To this end, bio-engineers at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have developed a new type of nanomedicine, which consists of tiny fat particles made up of endogenous proteins, including interleukin-4, which enter into very specific interactions with immune cells.
As a result, interleukin-4 is delivered specifically to immune cells, slowing down the acute inflammatory response, while at the same time boosting the immune system. This balances the immune system.
What is innovative about using this nanotechnology is that the researchers succeeded in directing interleukin-4 to certain immune cells.
The researchers emphasize that the therapy has not yet been tested in patients. This requires further research. Forces are also being joined with drug developers and biotech investors, so that the new technology actually reaches patients.
#Therapy #targeting #specific #immune #cells #promising #sepsis