Can an mRNA containing particle help direct your T cells to specific targets? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Using polyester to wrap mRNA to create an injectable particle may soon enable targeting of your T cells to fight some cancers and autoimmune diseases.  That’s according to research by Jordan Green, a biomedical engineering expert at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues.

Green: The cargo that's inside the particle is mRNA. Not dissimilar from if you've had for example a lipid nanoparticle mRNA vaccine for COVID, except instead of being a lipid nanoparticle it's a biodegradable polymeric particle. And then on the inside instead of mRNA encoding a spike protein or a component of a virus this mRNA does not get integrated into the genome. There's no permanent change of any of your cells.   :30

Green and colleagues have been successful in using this approach to stimulate T cells, one part of your immune system, to modify another arm of the immune response to turn down the autoimmune condition called lupus. He notes the process is much faster and less expensive than other ways to modify T cells. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.