There are many stages of reactions in the body, from immune responses to tissue healing, and it is necessary for effective treatment to properly control immune responses at each stage. However, previous studies were insufficient to reversibly control the host immune responses or utilizing various modes according to the situation of the patient's immune system. Researchers at Korea University have developed a "nanoscale system to modulate host immune responses by remote stimuli regulation of peptide accessibility," which appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in XX, selected for cover article. 

Cell-adhesive peptides are bound to the surface of the biomaterial, and external stimuli-responsive inorganic nano-aggregates that can be synthesized in various sizes are attached to the surface of the biomaterial using a stretchable linker. When the inorganic nano-aggregates of various sizes are attached to the surface of the biomaterial, the total density of cell-adhesive peptides is constantly maintained on the surface of the biomaterial, but the local density of accessible peptides can be controlled depending on the size of the inorganic nano-aggregate. 

By manipulating the height of the inorganic nano-aggregates under external stimuli, the accessibility of the peptides on the surface of the biomaterial was controlled. The behavior of host macrophages, which play an important role in the immune response, is regulated by controlling accessibility of the peptides on the surface through adjusting the sizes of nano-aggregates or manipulating the height of the nano-aggreagates.

Prof. Kang said, “We have overcome the limitations of previous studies by inorganic nano-aggregates of various sizes and reversible movements of inorganic nano-aggregates under remote stimuli.” “This study will provide a new parameter called ‘accessible peptide density’ that controls the peptide-receptor binding, which will become a new standard for follow-up studies on immune system control.”

[Reference] Kim Y. et al., (2021) “Manipulating Nanoparticle Aggregates Regulates Receptor-Ligand Binding in Macrophages” Journal of the American Chemical Society

[Main Author]  Yuri Kim (Korea University), Heemin Kang (Korea University)

* Contact email : Professor Heemin Kang (heeminkang@korea.ac.kr)