Active immunotherapy against IL-1β restores tissue repair under chronic inflammation
Cordero-Alvarado P, Kley N, Caston ELP, et al. (2026). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Summary
A mouse study from Duke University. The authors used a self-assembling peptide nanofiber, Coil29, as an active immunotherapy that trains the immune system to make antibodies against interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β). In wild-type and diabetic mice with a chronic wound, skin covered the wounds faster than with an anti-IL-1β antibody, and the authors report this without broad immune suppression. Antibodies from the immunised mice also shifted cultured inflammatory macrophages toward a repair-associated state. This is a mouse study and does not test people. The work was supported by the NIH, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and the NSF. The senior author, J.H. Collier, is an inventor on patents associated with immunomodulating peptide nanofibers. Published online on 2 November 2026, in the 10 November 2026 issue.