The chronic and debilitating autoimmune diseases (ADs) affect 5–8% of the world population and pose a tremendous burden on patients and the healthcare system. The established therapies for ADs often rely on frequent administration of anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory drugs in high doses, which are characterized by limited therapeutic efficacy and severe side effects. Therefore, the development of new, effective, and safe therapies for ADs holds great value for public health. In this project, a new method will be developed to prepare polymer microparticles with both high drug loading and controlled drug release, and then an immune cell-mediated drug delivery system will be developed by engineering macrophages with the developed microparticles. The administered macrophages, as both a targeting agent and therapeutic agent, will provide prolonged anti-inflammatory and tissue repairing effects for AD therapy, which may not only enhance therapeutic efficacy but also reduce side effects.

2023

2027