Re-establishing immune tolerance

Re-establishment of immune tolerance is a major goal for type 1 diabetes (T1D) treatment. Although cell-based therapies aiming to increase numbers of functional antigen-specific regulatory T (T_reg) cells and restore immune tolerance are being investigated, their clinical translation is challenging. Now, Yeste et al. have engineered nanoparticles to co-deliver a tolerogenic molecule — the aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand 2-(1′H-indole-3′-carbonyl)-thiazole-4-carboxylic acid methyl ester (ITE) — and the β-cell antigen proinsulin (NP_ITE+Ins). Injection of NOD mice with NP_ITE+Ins suppressed spontaneous T1D development, inducing a tolerogenic dendritic cell phenotype and increasing T_reg cell differentiation.