Spider webs and vaccines – an unlikely pairing?

Activating T lymphocytes is one of the most essential steps in fighting many diseases, yet the peptides that are needed for this activation are often destroyed before they even reach their target.

To get around this, researchers have started looking into using the silk webs of a certain spider often found in our gardens: the araneus diadematus. The silk this spider produces actually presented highly interesting properties for medicine, namely a long chain of biocompatible and biodegradable proteins.

By recreating it in a laboratory, scientists were able to integrate a peptide with vaccinating properties. The silk is then spun in order to form nanoparticles that could be injected into the body. It remains to be seen whether this technique could be adapted to antigens used in classic vaccinations.