- Presents Immunotherapy for Inflammatory Bowel Disease by Modulating the Immune Environment Within the Spleen

- Research Findings Published in ‘Advanced Functional Materials (IF=19.00)’, a Leading International Journal in Materials Science

△(From left) Master's student Kwon Jun (first author, Department of Biomedical Chemical Engineering, Catholic University of Korea), Dr. Son Hee-soo (first author, Harvard Medical School), Professor Kim Han-young (corresponding author, Department of Biomedical Chemical Engineering, The Catholic University of Korea)

 A research team led by Professor Han-Young Kim from the Department of Biomedical Chemical Engineering at The Catholic University of Korea (President Jun-Kyoo Choi) has developed a bio-mimetic nano-immunotherapy platform targeting the spleen based on human red blood cell membranes.

 This presents a precision immunomodulation strategy that goes beyond simple drug delivery to directly target immune organs. It holds promise for future expansion into various chronic inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.

 Master's student Kwon Jun from the Department of Biomedical Chemical Engineering at The Catholic University of Korea and Dr. Son Hee-soo from Harvard Medical School participated as co-first authors in this study. The research findings were published online on December 12th in ‘Advanced Functional Materials (IF=19.00)’, a world-renowned journal in the field of materials science.

 Inflammatory bowel disease is often perceived as inflammation confined to the gut, but it actually involves the accumulation of inflammatory immune cells in secondary lymphoid organs like the spleen, leading to splenomegaly and systemic immune imbalance. However, existing treatments broadly suppress systemic immunity, limiting their use due to side effects such as infection risk and organ toxicity.

 To address these issues, the research team focused on ‘erythrophagocytosis’—the physiological pathway where aged or damaged red blood cells are naturally removed by immune cells in the spleen. A hybrid nanocarrier, created by fusing human red blood cell membranes with lipid nanoparticles, demonstrated a characteristic of preferentially accumulating in the spleen after intravenous administration and being taken up by splenic macrophages and dendritic cells.

 Notably, the immune-modulating drug rapamycin loaded within the carrier was found to convert inflammatory immune cells into anti-inflammatory immune cells (M2 macrophages, regulatory T cells), inducing systemic immune reprogramming originating in the spleen.

 In animal models of inflammatory bowel disease, this platform significantly alleviated splenomegaly, suppressed inflammatory immune cell infiltration in intestinal tissue, and demonstrated efficacy in restoring damaged intestinal epithelial structure and barrier function. Furthermore, it exhibited excellent biocompatibility without toxicity to major organs such as the liver and kidneys.

 Professor Kim Han-young of the Department of Biomedical Chemical Engineering at The Catholic University of Korea stated “This technology is based on a process structure designed for clinical application, where a nano-delivery system is created by fusing lipid nanoparticles with red blood cells collected from the patient, followed by re-administration,” he explained. “Not only can it evolve into patient-specific precision immunotherapy using autologous red blood cells, but its combination with the lipid nanoparticle platform already in clinical use also enhances the potential for mass production and clinical translation.”

△Conceptual diagram of human red blood cell membrane-based spleen-targeted biomimetic nanocarrier and its mechanism for treating inflammatory bowel disease