On target: New technique could help with immune diseases

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have devised a new technique that targets drugs to specific cells, which may help to improve therapeutic options for immune diseases such as arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

The team’s work focused on a group of immune cells called macrophages, which can either help the body to heal post-injury or promote harmful inflammation. The aim of the research was to find a way to remove the harmful macrophages and leave the healing cells unaffected.

In order to achieve this targeted approach, the team coupled a drug compound to a carrier molecule that is only activated in acidic conditions — which are found inside the harmful macrophages. Using a fluorescent tag, the team could track the cells that were affected by the drug.

Lab tests performed by the researchers on human macrophages demonstrated that the technique enabled a targeted approach — preferentially affecting the inflammatory macrophages while leaving the healing cells alone. Furthermore, studies in zebrafish, which share features of their immune system with humans — revealed that the treatment helped to improve tissue healing.

“This is an important step forward in the design of more precise drugs with fewer side effects,” said the study lead, Dr Marc Vendrell, Medical Research Council Centre for Inflammation Research at the University of Edinburgh. “In future studies, we want to exploit this technology to improve the treatment of diseases in which macrophages and immune cells are important.”

This research has been published in ACS Central Science.