Nanoparticle-Based Tolerogenic Vaccines for the Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases: A Review

Current treatments for autoimmune diseases can only ameliorate the symptoms of the disease and may cause immunocompromised or opportunistic diseases. Recent advances in nanotechnology and immunology have facilitated the development of tolerogenic immunotherapies against autoimmune diseases, which show more promising outcomes in animal models and early clinical trials than conventional therapies. Tolerogenic immunotherapies employ the characteristics and functions of immune cells to downregulate the autoreactivity of immune responses that damage tissues and organs. Here, we review the utilization of nanoparticles as a tolerogenic vaccine platform to induce peripheral immune tolerance against self-antigen via the induction of tolerogenic dendritic cells and regulatory T cells. After introduction of the general mechanism for the induction of peripheral immune tolerance, the materials design of recent nanoparticle-based tolerogenic vaccines, their delivering strategies, and regulation of the autoreactive immune responses in disease models are reviewed. Last, the opportunities and challenges of these approaches are discussed.