Hao Cheng, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has received a four-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an mRNA delivery system designed to induce immune tolerance to specific antigens.
The award, from NIH's National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, supports a collaboration with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Abnormal immune reactions against harmless environmental substances or the body's own tissues can lead to allergies or autoimmune diseases. Tens of millions of people in the United States live with these conditions.
Current treatments often rely on long-term anti-inflammatory or broadly immunosuppressive drugs, which can cause significant side effects, including a higher risk of infection.
Cheng's team is pursuing a more precise approach known as antigen-specific immune tolerance. The goal is to eliminate or suppress only the immune cells driving the harmful reaction, leaving the rest of the immune system able to fight off pathogens.
The success of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines and cancer immunotherapies has established mRNA delivery as a powerful way to modulate immune responses. Using it to induce immune tolerance, essentially the opposite effect, remains an emerging area of research.
The project will deliver mRNA to a specialized group of liver cells, reprogramming them to promote tolerance to specific antigens. If successful, the approach could lead to new treatments for allergies and for autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.