Revitalizing Cytokine‐Based Cancer Immunotherapy through Advanced Delivery Systems

Abstract

Cytokines can coordinate robust immune responses, holding great promise as therapeutics against infections, autoimmune diseases and cancers. In cancer treatment, numerous pro‐inflammatory cytokines have displayed promising efficacy in preclinical studies. However, their clinical application has been hindered by poor pharmacokinetics, significant toxicity and unsatisfactory anticancer efficacy. Thus, while IFN‐α and IL‐2 have been approved for specific cancer treatments, other cytokines still remain subject of intense investigation. To accelerate the application of cytokines as cancer immunotherapeutics, strategies need to be directed to improve their safety and anticancer performance. In this regard, delivery systems could be used to generate innovative therapies by targeting the cytokines or nucleic acids, such as DNA and mRNA, encoding the cytokines to tumor tissues. This review centers on these innovative delivery strategies for cytokines, summarizing key approaches, such as gene delivery and protein delivery, and critically examining their potential and challenges for clinical translation.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

PTMs of PD-1/PD-L1 and PROTACs application for improving cancer immunotherapy

“…Cancer vaccines are designed to treat existing cancers by stimulating the immune system to attack cancer cells, such as targeting specific antigens found on cancer cells ( 77 ). Cytokine therapy boosts the immune system’s ability to fight cancer via using cytokines, such as interferons and interleukins ( 78 , 79 ). Immunotherapy has shown remarkable overcomes in treating certain types of cancer, including melanoma, lung cancer, and leukemia.…”