Biomimetic Targeting of Nanoparticles to Immune Cell Subsets via Cognate Antigen Interactions

Within the body, cellular recognition is mediated in large part by receptor-ligand interactions that result from the surface marker expression of the participant cells. In the case of immune cells, these interactions can be highly specific, enabling them to carry out their protective functions in fighting off infection and malignancy. In this work, we demonstrate the biomimetic targeting of antigen-specific immune cell populations by using nanoparticles functionalized with natural membrane derived from cells expressing the cognate antigen. Using red blood cell (RBC)-specific B cells as a model target, it is shown that RBC membrane-coated nanoparticles exhibit enhanced affinity compared with control nanoparticles. The concept is further demonstrated using murine models of alloimmunity and autoimmunity, where B cells elicited against RBCs can be positively labeled using the biomimetic nanoparticles. This strategy for antigen-specific immune cell targeting may have utility for the detection and treatment of various autoimmune conditions, and it may additionally have implications for the prevention of immune cell malignancies.