Leveraging tissue-resident memory T cells for non-invasive immune monitoring via microneedle skin patches - PubMed
6 hours ago
- #microneedle patches
- #immune monitoring
- #T cells
- The study introduces a non-invasive method for immune monitoring using microneedle (MN) skin patches to sample tissue-resident memory T cells (TRMs).
- TRMs are induced by antigen sensitization and restimulated to accumulate antigen-specific T cells from circulation, enabling their detection.
- In mouse models, MN patches with hydrogel coatings successfully isolated thousands of live antigen-specific lymphocytes and innate immune cells.
- A human participant with allergic contact dermatitis showed that MN sampling recovered diverse lymphocyte populations not found in untreated skin.
- The technique provides a platform for monitoring local and systemic antigen-specific immune responses in diseases or vaccination settings.
- Several authors have filed a patent related to the technology, and some have financial ties to pharmaceutical companies.