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

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.

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 component of a virus, this mRNA does not get integrated into the genome.

There's no permanent change of any of your cells.

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.

At Johns Hopkins, I'm Elizabeth Tracy.