Institute of Bioengineering Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Nature. 2009 Nov 26;462(7272):449-60. doi: 10.1038/nature08604.
The engineering of materials that can modulate the immune system is an emerging field that is developing alongside immunology. For therapeutic ends such as vaccine development, materials are now being engineered to deliver antigens through specific intracellular pathways, allowing better control of the way in which antigens are presented to one of the key types of immune cell, T cells. Materials are also being designed as adjuvants, to mimic specific 'danger' signals in order to manipulate the resultant cytokine environment, which influences how antigens are interpreted by T cells. In addition to offering the potential for medical advances, immunomodulatory materials can form well-defined model systems, helping to provide new insight into basic immunobiology.
能够调节免疫系统的材料工程是一个新兴领域，它与免疫学同步发展。出于治疗目的，例如疫苗开发，现在正在通过特定的细胞内途径设计材料来递呈抗原，从而更好地控制抗原递呈给关键类型的免疫细胞之一——T 细胞的方式。材料也被设计为佐剂，以模拟特定的“危险”信号，从而操纵细胞因子环境，这会影响 T 细胞对抗原的解读。除了为医学进步提供潜力外，免疫调节材料还可以形成定义明确的模型系统，有助于为基础免疫生物学提供新的见解。
