Engineered extracellular vesicles as a revolutionary inflammation resolving therapy

EVolution Therapeutics是从阿斯顿大学分拆出来的公司，其愿景是通过开发革命性的新疗法来改变各种炎症性疾病的治疗。炎症是免疫系统的正常防御机制，用于帮助保护免受感染和修复损伤造成的损伤。然而，只有当反应被关闭，感染或受损的组织恢复正常时，炎症的好处才能实现，这一过程被称为解决。为什么这很重要？炎症反应控制失败会导致慢性炎症，是许多炎症性疾病的根本原因，特别是不愈合（慢性）伤口。不愈合的伤口通常会在所谓的“炎症阶段”停止愈合，在这个阶段，先天免疫系统应该促进修复反应，但没有。转换到解决阶段依赖于免疫细胞（已经完成了保护工作）被移除。为了去除这些不需要的细胞，它们会死亡，并释放出称为细胞外囊泡（EV）的小膜袋。我们实验室的开创性研究表明，这些EV携带特定的生物分子，有助于控制炎症和激活组织修复反应的信号。我们利用这些知识来设计我们自己的电动汽车，这些电动汽车装载了这些炎症修饰生物分子，以便通过推动免疫系统再次恢复正常功能来“启动”这一停滞的过程。无法愈合的伤口现在已经成为我们医疗保健系统中的一个主要危机。据估计，NHS每年管理380万患者的伤口，每年NHS成本为83亿英镑，其中56亿英镑与管理不愈合伤口有关（与管理肥胖症的成本相同）。非愈合性伤口治疗主要依赖于伤口敷料，领先的伤口护理临床医生认为，现在迫切需要先进的治疗方法。我们的创新旨在从被动伤口管理转向主动伤口治疗。如果成功，我们的治疗可以限制患者的临床和经济负担，从而帮助改善他们的生活质量，同时也有助于降低全球医疗保健系统长期治疗的高昂成本。值得注意的是，我们的疗法在治疗不愈合伤口方面概述的益处可能在未来应用于其他炎症性疾病。

EVolution Therapeutics is spin-out company from Aston University which has a vision to transform the treatment of a wide range of inflammatory diseases, through development of a revolutionary new therapy.Inflammation is a normal defence mechanism used by the immune system to help protect from infection and to repair damage caused by injury. However, the benefits of inflammation are only realised when the response is turned off and the infected or damaged tissue is returned to normal, in a process known as resolution. Why is this important? A failure to control inflammatory responses can lead to chronic inflammation and is the root cause of many of the inflammatory diseases, notably non-healing (chronic) wounds.Non-healing wounds often become stalled in their healing in the so-called 'inflammatory phase', the phase where the innate immune system should promote a repair response but does not. The switch to the resolution phase relies on immune cells (that have done their protective job) being removed. To allow their removal these unwanted cells die, and as they do so, they release small membrane bags called extracellular vesicles (EVs). Pioneering research in our lab has shown that these EVs carry specific biomolecules that help to control inflammation and signal to activate the tissue repair response. We have used this knowledge to design our own EVs, which are loaded with these inflammation-modifying biomolecules, in order to 'kick-start' this stalled process by pushing the immune system toward normal function again.Non-healing wounds have now become a major crisis within our healthcare system. It is estimated that 3.8 million patients are managed by the NHS for wounds each year at an annual NHS cost of £8.3 billion, of which £5.6 billion is associated with managing non-healing wounds (the same cost as managing obesity). Non-healing wound treatment predominantly relies upon wound dressings and leading wound care clinicians agree that there is now a vital need for advanced therapies.Our innovation aims to create a paradigm shift away from passive wound management and towards active wound treatment. If successful, our therapy could limit the considerable clinical and economic burdens to patients, thereby helping to improve their quality of life, whilst also helping reduce the high cost attached to long term treatment for healthcare systems worldwide. Significantly, the benefits outlined for our therapy in the treatment of non-healing wounds, may potentially be applied to other inflammatory diseases in the future.