Macrophage Trampoline: Immune Cells Attack Therapeutic Devices

Macrophage Trampoline: Immune Cells Attack Therapeutic Devices

Submitted by Andrew R. Bader, Omid Veiseh, and Arturo Vegas of the Anderson Laboratory at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT

Koch Institute at MIT, MIT Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Medical Engineering and Science

This is a large spherical capsule made out of seaweed-based polymers, designed to hold and deliver all sorts of payloads including therapeutic drugs. The immune cells of the host body recognized the presence of the foreign sphere and deposited a red fibrotic coating around the capsule. The green spots are the macrophage cells that are sensing the capsules.

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