The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to a staggering number of deaths worldwide and significantly increased burden on healthcare as nations scramble to find mitigation strategies. While significant progress has been made in COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics, effective prevention and treatment options remain scarce. Because of the potential for the SARS-CoV-2 infections to cause systemic inflammation and multiple organ failure, it is imperative for the scientific community to evaluate therapeutic options aimed at modulating the causative host immune responses to prevent subsequent systemic complications. Harnessing decades of expertise in the use of natural and synthetic materials for biomedical applications, the biomaterials community has the potential to play an especially instrumental role in developing new strategies or repurposing existing tools to prevent or treat complications resulting from the COVID-19 pathology. Leveraging microparticle- and nanoparticle-based technology, especially in pulmonary delivery, biomaterials have demonstrated the ability to effectively modulate inflammation and may be well-suited for resolving SARS-CoV-2-induced effects. Here, we provide an overview of the SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and highlight current understanding of the host’s pulmonary immune response and its contributions to disease severity and systemic inflammation. Comparing to frontline COVID-19 therapeutic options, we highlight the most significant untapped opportunities in immune engineering of the host response using biomaterials and particle technology, which have the potential to improve outcomes for COVID-19 patients, and identify areas needed for future investigations. We hope that this work will prompt preclinical and clinical investigations of promising biomaterials-based treatments to introduce new options for COVID-19 patients.

中文翻译：

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基于生物材料的 COVID-19 肺部宿主免疫反应设计机会

由于 SARS-CoV-2 病毒在全球传播，导致了 COVID-19 大流行，导致全球死亡人数惊人，并显着增加了医疗保健负担，各国都在努力寻找缓解策略。尽管 COVID-19 诊断和治疗已取得重大进展，但有效的预防和治疗方案仍然匮乏。由于 SARS-CoV-2 感染可能导致全身炎症和多器官衰竭，科学界有必要评估旨在调节致病宿主免疫反应的治疗方案，以预防随后的全身并发症。生物材料界利用数十年在生物医学应用中使用天然和合成材料的专业知识，有可能在制定新策略或重新利用现有工具来预防或治疗由 COVID-19 病理学引起的并发症方面发挥特别重要的作用。利用基于微粒和纳米颗粒的技术，特别是在肺部递送方面，生物材料已证明能够有效调节炎症，并且可能非常适合解决 SARS-CoV-2 引起的影响。在这里，我们概述了 SARS-CoV-2 病毒感染，并重点介绍了目前对宿主肺部免疫反应及其对疾病严重程度和全身炎症的影响的了解。与一线 COVID-19 治疗方案相比，我们强调了使用生物材料和粒子技术对宿主反应进行免疫工程的最重要的未开发机会，这些机会有可能改善 COVID-19 患者的治疗结果，并确定未来研究所需的领域。我们希望这项工作能够促进基于生物材料的有前途的治疗方法的临床前和临床研究，为 COVID-19 患者带来新的选择。