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Nanoscale drug carriers injected into subcutaneous tissue
(Top): In this image, nanoscale drug carriers known as polymersomes are injected into subcutaneous tissue, allowing them to reach specific types of immune cells that reside within lymph nodes. This effectively teaches the immune system what it should and should not reject. These immune cells are known as antigen presenting cells (light purple/lavender cells with many appendages). (Bottom): As a result of this training, the immune system does not reject foreign pancreatic islet cells, which are obtained from a donor and injected into the portal vein of a recipient’s liver as a treatment for Type 1 diabetes.
[Research supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grants DGE 1842165, CBET 1453576 and DMR 0960140.]
Learn more in the Northwestern University news story Nanotherapy offers new hope for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes. (Date image taken: Dec. 2021; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: March 1, 2022)
Credit: Prof. Evan Scott, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University; illustration by Alex D. Jerez
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