Gouty arthritis is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by flare-ups of joint swelling and pain. Pain is caused by the accumulation of urate crystals in and around the joint and the associated formation of an inflammatory microenvironment. Current therapies for gouty arthritis have off-target effects and do not yield clinically satisfactory results. A new study presents a multimodal treatment approach for gouty arthritis using a targeted nanosystem. Nanocarriers are known to accumulate in inflamed joints and therefore represent an attractive targeted treatment option.

The authors fused M2 macrophage membranes and exosomes to create an immunological cloak for the nanocarriers. This cloak takes advantage of the known anti-inflammatory properties of M2 macrophages to protect the internal nanoparticles from immune-mediated degradation. In addition, M2 macrophage membranes and exosomes can repolarize pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages to M2 macrophages.