Elena Boggio

Monogenic autoimmune disorders represent an important tool to understand the mechanisms behind central and peripheral immune tolerance. Multiple factors, both genetic and environmental, are known to be involved in the alteration of the immune activation/immune tolerance homeostasis typical of these disorders, making it difficult to control the disease. The latest advances in genetic analysis have contributed to a better and more rapid diagnosis, although the management remains confined to the treatment of clinical manifestations, as there are limited studies on rare diseases. Recently, the correlation between microbiota composition and the onset of autoimmune disorders has been investigated, thus opening up new perspectives on the cure of monogenic autoimmune diseases. In this review, we will summarize the main genetic features of both organ-specific and systemic monogenic autoimmune diseases, reporting on the available literature data on microbiota alterations in these patients.

This work presents a computational model to study the degradation behavior of polyester-based three-dimensional (3D) functionalized scaffolds for bone regeneration. As a case study, we investigated the behavior of a 3D-printed scaffold presenting a functionalized surface with ICOS-Fc, a bioactive protein able to stimulate bone regeneration and healing, inhibiting osteoclast activity. The aim of the model was to optimize the scaffold design to control its degradation and thus the release of grafted protein over time and space. Two different scenarios were considered: (i) a scaffold without macroporosity presenting a functionalized external surface; and (ii) a scaffold presenting an internal functionalized macroporous architecture with open channels to locally deliver the degradation products.