Tetsuhiro Harimoto, Wei-Hung Jung, David J. Mooney
{"title":"Delivering living medicines with biomaterials","authors":"Tetsuhiro Harimoto, Wei-Hung Jung, David J. Mooney","doi":"10.1038/s41578-024-00766-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The engineering of therapeutic living cells through genetic programming is poised to transform medicine. Diverse living medicines, including mammalian cells, fungi, bacteria and viruses, are under development. However, for these medicines to progress in the clinic, new strategies are needed to successfully deliver them into the body. Unlike conventional small-molecule and protein-based biologics, living medicines present distinct challenges for delivery, including the need to maintain viability, control replication, manage metabolism and mitigate immunogenicity. This Review focuses on delivery strategies for living medicines, identifying key challenges and efforts to overcome them. We survey clinically adopted biomaterial strategies for delivering conventional drugs and explore how these approaches can be tailored for living medicines. Finally, we discuss remaining challenges and future directions towards next-generation living medicine delivery.</p>","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"117 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":79.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Reviews Materials","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-024-00766-y","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The engineering of therapeutic living cells through genetic programming is poised to transform medicine. Diverse living medicines, including mammalian cells, fungi, bacteria and viruses, are under development. However, for these medicines to progress in the clinic, new strategies are needed to successfully deliver them into the body. Unlike conventional small-molecule and protein-based biologics, living medicines present distinct challenges for delivery, including the need to maintain viability, control replication, manage metabolism and mitigate immunogenicity. This Review focuses on delivery strategies for living medicines, identifying key challenges and efforts to overcome them. We survey clinically adopted biomaterial strategies for delivering conventional drugs and explore how these approaches can be tailored for living medicines. Finally, we discuss remaining challenges and future directions towards next-generation living medicine delivery.
期刊介绍:
Nature Reviews Materials is an online-only journal that is published weekly. It covers a wide range of scientific disciplines within materials science. The journal includes Reviews, Perspectives, and Comments.
Nature Reviews Materials focuses on various aspects of materials science, including the making, measuring, modelling, and manufacturing of materials. It examines the entire process of materials science, from laboratory discovery to the development of functional devices.