In Vivo Models

With an incidence of 30–60 percent, graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is one of the main complications to follow allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Conventional treatment methods target a nonspecific suppression of the immune system, which can significantly increase the risk of infection and relapse. It is therefore all the more important that new drugs and therapeutic approaches are developed which, in the best case, maintain the function of a patient’s immune system while reducing adverse effects.

For several years now, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been at the center of various research approaches relating to immune-­mediated inflammatory diseases. Alongside a variety of diagnostic applications, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects are of particular interest to researchers. Almost every cell secretes EVs and a high number of cells resorb them. They thus play a fundamental role in intercellular communication and assume an important role in preserving physiological balance and in the pathogenesis of different diseases.

Measuring some 50 to 2000nm in size, the vesicles transport an abundance of biomolecules (including proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and metabolites). Immunomodulatory effects were able to be observed in various in vitro and in vivo studies, for example through EVs from stem cells.

On behalf of the company Lysatpharma GmbH (Eisenberg), whose technological focus lies in the field of regenerative medicine and the development of novel immunotherapies based on EVs, Fraunhofer IZI is evaluating the preventive and therapeutic potential of EVs in an in vivo GvHD model (mouse). Lysatpharma GmbH received support to carry out this preclinical research and product development through an economic development grant awarded to individual businesses by the Free State of Thuringia (project number 2019 FE 0152 (EFRE)).