Recent advances of biomaterials in biotherapy.

Ling Li,Zhi-Yao He,Xia-Wei Wei,Yu-Quan Wei

doi:10.1093/rb/rbw007

Abstract

Biotherapy mainly refers to the intervention and the treatment of major diseases with biotechnologies or bio-drugs, which include gene therapy, immunotherapy (vaccines and antibodies), bone marrow transplantation and stem-cell therapy. In recent years, numerous biomaterials have emerged and were utilized in the field of biotherapy due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. Generally, biomaterials can be classified into natural or synthetic polymers according to their source, both of which have attracted much attention. Notably, biomaterials-based non-viral gene delivery vectors in gene therapy are undergoing rapid development with the emergence of surface-modified or functionalized materials. In immunotherapy, biomaterials appear to be attractive means for enhancing the delivery efficacy and the potency of vaccines. Additionally, hydrogels and scaffolds are ideal candidates in stem-cell therapy and tissue engineering. In this review, we present an introduction of biomaterials used in above biotherapy, including gene therapy, immunotherapy, stem-cell therapy and tissue engineering. We also highlighted the biomaterials which have already entered the clinical evaluation

Highlights

Biotherapy has gained more and more attention in the potential treatment of many critical diseases (such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, Aids etc.) [1,2,3,4]
In recent years, biotherapy has gained more and more attention in the potential treatment of many critical diseases [1,2,3,4]
Biotherapy mainly refers to the intervention and the treatment of critical diseases with biotechnologies or bio-drugs, including the discovery of therapeutic targets by pathology investigation and the development of biotechnologies associated with gene therapy, immunotherapy, stem-cell therapy and tissue engineering [8, 9]

Summary

Introduction

Biotherapy has gained more and more attention in the potential treatment of many critical diseases (such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, Aids etc.) [1,2,3,4]. Biomaterials have attracted much attention in biotherapy, including various fields such as regenerative medicine, gene delivery, stem-cell therapy, tissue engineering and immunomodulation [16,17,18,19]. We address the biomaterials which have already been used or with the potential applications in biotherapy including gene delivery, immunotherapy, stem-cell therapy and tissue engineering.

Results

Conclusion