Researchers report unraveling the immune recognition of nucleic acid nanoparticles: Particle-specific immune responses may be 'an alphabet for talking to the immune system'

An extensive experiment testing the immune effects of lab-designed nucleic acid nanoparticles found varying and specific responses from various immune cells, depending on each particle's shape and formulation, a finding that may encourage further study of the particles' therapeutic use. The researchers propose that they may have discovered an auxiliary system for managing immune response -- a molecular 'alphabet' for communicating with the human immune system.