Molecule linked to immune attack

A Yale scientist has found that blocking a key molecule protects implants, pacemakers, artificial joints and other foreign biomaterials from attack by the immune system.

“Implantation of biomaterials, devices, and tissue-engineered constructs into tissues causes the development of a foreign-body reaction that can lead to implant failure,” said Themis R. Kyriakides, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and biomedical engineering, a member of the interdepartmental program in Vascular Biology and Transplantation and lead author of a study published in December in The American Journal of Pathology.

Kyriakides and his team focused on areas where tissue and implants meet and foreign body giant cells form. In studies with mice, the team genetically eliminated the molecule, CC chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2), or blocked its action with decoy proteins.

The success of the experiments with mice opens up the possibility of finding targets for drugs to sustain implants.