Self-adjuvanting cancer nanovaccines

Abstract

Nanovaccines, a new generation of vaccines that use nanoparticles as carriers and/or adjuvants, have been widely used in the prevention and treatment of various diseases, including cancer. Nanovaccines have sparked considerable interest in cancer therapy due to a variety of advantages, including improved access to lymph nodes (LN), optimal packing and presentation of antigens, and induction of a persistent anti-tumor immune response. As a delivery system for cancer vaccines, various types of nanoparticles have been designed to facilitate the delivery of antigens and adjuvants to lymphoid organs and antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Particularly, some types of nanoparticles are able to confer an immune-enhancing capability and can themselves be utilized for adjuvant-like effect for vaccines, suggesting a direction for a better use of nanomaterials and the optimization of cancer vaccines. However, this role of nanoparticles in vaccines has not been well studied. To further elucidate the role of self-adjuvanting nanovaccines in cancer therapy, we review the mechanisms of antitumor vaccine adjuvants with respect to nanovaccines with self-adjuvanting properties, including enhancing cross-presentation, targeting signaling pathways, biomimicking of the natural invasion process of pathogens, and further unknown mechanisms. We surveyed self-adjuvanting cancer nanovaccines in clinical research and discussed their advantages and challenges. In this review, we classified self-adjuvanting cancer nanovaccines according to the underlying immunomodulatory mechanism, which may provide mechanistic insights into the design of nanovaccines in the future. Graphical Abstract

Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica as a Nanoadjuvant for Subunit Vaccines Elicits Potent Antigen-Specific Germinal Center Responses by Activating Naive B Cells

“…The reason for this is most likely that PMO (N+) cannot directly activate naive B cells and thus elicits a significantly lower level of Tfh cells and GC B cells in LNs compared to that of PMO. Surface modification of biomaterials has been shown to influence its protein adsorption, cell interactions, and host responses . Amino group modification of PMO may alter the interaction with the receptor of APCs and then initiate different signaling pathways, thus inducing a selectivity of activation on different APC cells.…”

“…Surface modification of biomaterials has been shown to influence its protein adsorption, cell interactions, and host responses. 46 Amino group modification of PMO may alter the interaction with the receptor of APCs and then initiate different signaling pathways, thus inducing a selectivity of activation on different APC cells. Further studies are still needed to validate this suppose.…”

The application of carbon dots in tumor immunotherapy: researches and prospects

“…Tumor vaccine therapy is designed by introducing tumor antigens into the patient to stimulate a specific anti-tumor immune response and improve the immune microenvironment [34,35]. Due to its advantages of tumor specificity and long maintenance time in vivo, vaccine therapy has become a popular research field in cancer therapy [24,34]. The vaccine can be divided into therapeutic vaccines and preventive vaccines [36].…”

“…Unlike vaccines, immunoadjuvants are not antigenic, which is used to increase tumor immunogenicity or enhance the immune response of immune cells in cancer [34]. Thus, immunoadjuvants are often used in conjunction with some immunotherapies, such as PD-1/PD-L1 blockers [34]. CDs have been increasingly applicated in immunoadjuvants in recent years [39].…”

A Brief Overview of Cancer Vaccines

“…Pathogens, particulates, saponins, and emulsions such as incomplete Freund's adjuvant (e.g., Montanide) have all been explored extensively, especially in peptide and recombinant virus vaccine preparations, and considerable work continues to be devoted to the question of an effective adjuvant(s) for cancer vaccines 9,14 . Recently, nanoparticle-based adjuvants have generated some interest, including antigen-delivery substances that may be “auto-adjuvanting.” 15 …”