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Biomaterials can act as pro- or anti-inflammatory agents. However, effects of biomaterials crystallinity on immune responses are poorly understood. We demonstrate that the adjuvant-like behaviour of covalent organic framework COF biomaterial is dependent on its crystallinity. COF crystallinity is inversely correlated with the activation of mouse and human dendritic cells DC , but with antigen presentation by mouse DCs only.
Meanwhile, Unc5c inhibition disrupts the correlation between crystallinity and DC activation. These findings demonstrate that the crystallinity of biomaterials is an important aspect to consider when designing immunotherapy for pro- or anti-inflammatory applications. Recent years have witnessed significant advances in nanomaterial-based immunotherapy design 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , resulting in the development of highly effective and clinically relevant therapies 6 , 7 , 8.
For example, encapsulation of antigens in biodegradable and biocompatible polymers such as Poly lactic-co-glycolic acid PLGA is widely used as an approach in vaccine and drug delivery systems In addition, cationic liposomes used both for encapsulating antigens and as coating polymers to prevent immune recognition, have been approved for treating meningitis, infection, and cancer Among different nanomaterials, 2D nanomaterials have great potential in impacting biomedical applications due to their unique characteristic of high surface area compared to 1D or 3D nanomaterials.
The high surface area provides several anchoring sites, resulting in high interactions of 2D nanomaterials with cellular components and biomolecules.
