Home > Press > Cobblestones hoodwink innate immunity
Abstract:
Coating the surface of an implant such as a new hip or pacemaker with nanosized metallic particles reduces the risk of rejection, and researchers at the University of Gothenburg can now explain why: they fool the innate immune system. The results are presented in the International Journal of Nanomedicine.
Cobblestones hoodwink innate immunity
Gothenburg, Sweden | Posted on November 29th, 2011
"Activation of the body's innate immune system is one of the most common reasons for an implant being rejected," explains Professor Hans Elwing from the University of Gothenburg's Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. "We can now show why the body more easily integrates implants with a nanostructured surface than a smooth one."
The researchers used a unique method to produce nanostructures on gold surfaces, creating gold particles just 10-18 nm in diameter and binding them to a completely smooth gold surface at carefully regulated distances. The result is something akin to a cobbled street in miniature.
Nanosized irregularities mimic body's natural structures
Giving implants this cobbled surface reduces the activation of important parts of the innate immune system. This is because several of the proteins involved are of a similar size to these nanosized cobbles, and so do not change in appearance when they land on the surface. This gives the body a greater ability to integrate foreign objects such as implants, pacemakers and drug capsules into its own tissues, as well as reducing the risk of local inflammation.
"It may be that the innate immune system is designed to react to smooth surfaces, because these are not found naturally in the body," says Elwing. "Some bacteria, on the other hand, do have a completely smooth surface."
Modern nanotechnology makes it easy and cheap to surface-treat implants and drug capsules, but it will probably be several years before this becomes a reality in human medicine. The focus now is on customising titanium implants of various kinds.
Surface can be graded
"We've developed a graded surface with different cobbelstone package that we think can be used for bone implants," says Elwing. "Bone is very hard on the outside but then gets softer, so it would be good to have hard integration on the surface and softer integration underneath. We reckon we can make titanium screws that are denser at the head of the screw so that they fuse best at the top. This kind of customisation is the future."
Research into the body's innate immune system was rewarded this year with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
The laboratory work was carried out at the University of Gothenburg, and the project is a collaboration between the BIOMATCELL centre of excellence in Gothenburg, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden in Borås and Bactiguard AB in Stockholm.
The article "Immune complement activation is attenuated by surface nanotopography" by Mats Hulander, Anders Lundgren, Mattias Berglin, Mattias Ohrlander, Jukka Lausmaa and Hans Elwing was published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine: dx.doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S24578
####
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Anita Fors, Press Officer
Visiting Address:
Guldhedsgatan 5 A
Phone: 46 31 -786 98 73
Fax: 031-786 4839
Hans-Björne Elwing
46-031-786-2562
Copyright © University of Gothenburg
If you have a comment, please
Contact us.
Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Bookmark:
The article “Immune complement activation is attenuated by surface nanotopography.”
News and information
How do cold ions slide May 24th, 2013
Heinrich Rohrer dies at 79; a father of nanotechnology: With IBM colleague Gerd Binnig, Rohrer invented the scanning tunneling microscope, which can show individual atoms on a surface and move them around May 23rd, 2013
Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film May 23rd, 2013
Glowing Plant Releases Maker Kit, Enabling Anyone to Make a Glowing Plant at Home: Glowing Plant seeks funds via crowdfunding and raises almost $400,000 May 23rd, 2013
Nanomedicine
UofL scientists uncover how grapefruits provide a secret weapon in medical drug delivery May 22nd, 2013
Single-Cell Transfection Tool Enables Added Control for Biological Studies: McCormick researchers develop method of delivering molecules into targeted cells May 22nd, 2013
How Gold Nanoparticles Can Help Fight Ovarian Cancer May 21st, 2013
MU Researchers Develop Radioactive Nanoparticles that Target Cancer Cells: This is an early step toward developing therapies for metastasized cancers, MU scientist says May 21st, 2013
Discoveries
How do cold ions slide May 24th, 2013
Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film May 23rd, 2013
Whirlpools on the Nanoscale Could Multiply Magnetic Memory: At the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab scientists join an international team to control spin orientation in magnetic nanodisks May 22nd, 2013
Bacterial spare parts filter antibiotic residue from groundwater May 22nd, 2013
Announcements
How do cold ions slide May 24th, 2013
Heinrich Rohrer dies at 79; a father of nanotechnology: With IBM colleague Gerd Binnig, Rohrer invented the scanning tunneling microscope, which can show individual atoms on a surface and move them around May 23rd, 2013
Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film May 23rd, 2013
Glowing Plant Releases Maker Kit, Enabling Anyone to Make a Glowing Plant at Home: Glowing Plant seeks funds via crowdfunding and raises almost $400,000 May 23rd, 2013