Designing biomaterials for the treatment of autoimmune diseases

•Biomaterials can be engineered for drug delivery therapies for autoimmune diseases.•Stimuli-responsive biomaterials improve the bioavailability, specific targeting and release rates of drugs in the treatment of autoimmune diseases.•Nanomaterials can be used to design immunomodulatory nanosystems. Autoimmune diseases (ADs) are a group of chronic relapsing inflammatory diseases that cause great suffering to patients and increase the economic burden of society. However, the clinical treatments of ADs are often ineffective, with conventional immunosuppressive therapies causing reduced systemic immune function, potentially leading to the development of opportunistic infections. In recent years, the usage of biomaterials has led to considerable achievements in the field of drug delivery. In particular, the development of stimuli-responsive materials and nanomaterials has led to improved bioavailability, specific targeting, and precise controlled release of drugs. In addition, based on the inherent immunomodulatory function of nanomaterials and their ability to target immune cells, biomaterials can also participate in immunomodulation and induce immune tolerance to provide therapeutic strategies to treat ADs. To summarize these emerging biomaterial-associated therapeutic strategies, this review categorizes the designs as either drug delivery or immunomodulatory and summarizes the progress of their application in treating each AD. Finally, the limitations of the current therapeutic strategies are presented, and future directions are discussed to provide novel approaches for treating ADs. [Display omitted]