Implants like pacemakers and insulin pumps often fail because of immune attacks − stopping them could make medical devices safer and longer-lasting

• However, many implants fail because the body rejects them, and they need to be removed because they no longer function and can cause pain or discomfort.
• Developing treatments that target the mechanisms driving foreign body responses could improve the design and safety of biomedical implants.

Mechanics of implant rejection

• Researchers hypothesize that foreign body responses are triggered by the chemical and material composition of the implant.
• Immune cells activated by mechanical pressure respond by building a capsule made of scar tissue around the implant in an attempt to shield it off.
• Some people have very strong reactions that result in a large, thick capsule that constricts around the implant, impeding its function and causing pain.
• These findings suggest that activating mechanical stress pathways triggers immune cells with RAC2 to generate severe foreign body responses.

Developing new treatments

• My colleagues and I believe that treatments that target the pathways associated with RAC2 could potentially mitigate or prevent free body responses.
• A complete understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving foreign body responses would be the final frontier in developing truly bio-integrative medical devices that could integrate with the body with no problems for the recipient’s entire life span.