Tolerizing nanoparticle vaccine for MS

A vaccine that uses tolerizing biomaterials to deliver a peptide self antigen could help treat MS by inducing antigen-specific tolerance without suppressing the overall immune system. The vaccine consisted of mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with large quantities of MOG peptide.

In a mouse model of MS, vaccination with the nanoparticles early in disease onset decreased disease scores and increased the fraction of animals that were disease-free compared with the nanoparticle alone, the antigenic peptide alone, or the nanoparticle loaded with an irrelevant peptide. Also in the model, the vaccine increased the number of immunosuppressive Treg cells in the spleen, decreased ex vivo secretion of disease-driving cytokines by antigen-stimulated splenocytes, and lowered antigen presenting cell and CD4+ T cell infiltration in the CNS compared with the irrelevant vaccine...