Intracellular hydrogel-stabilized macrophage skeleton against bacterial infection

Cell-derived formulations possess the potential to combat bacterial infection by adsorbing pathological agents. In this issue of Matter, Gao and coworkers implement intracellular gelation technology to preserve the intact membrane protein receptors of bacteria-pretreated macrophages, enabling them to effectively neutralize toxins, inflammatory cytokines, and bacterial cells. Cell-derived formulations possess the potential to combat bacterial infection by adsorbing pathological agents. In this issue of Matter, Gao and coworkers implement intracellular gelation technology to preserve the intact membrane protein receptors of bacteria-pretreated macrophages, enabling them to effectively neutralize toxins, inflammatory cytokines, and bacterial cells. A bacterially engineered macrophage sponge as a neutralization decoy to treat bacterial infectionGao et al.MatterOctober 6, 2023In BriefA hydrogel preparation is transferred into macrophage cytoplasm to construct gelated macrophages (GMs) inheriting the intact membrane structure identical to source macrophages. GMs derived from S. aureus- or E. coli-engineered macrophages (S-GMs or E-GMs, respectively) upregulate Toll-like receptor (TLR4 and TLR2) production for strengthened bacterium and endotoxin binding and increase the membrane zeta potential to weaken the electrostatic repulsion force between GMs and bacteria. S-GMs or E-GMs function as a strengthened bacterial neutralization decoy for targeted management of bacterial infections. Full-Text PDF