Targeted Cancer Immunotherapy: Nanoformulation Engineering and Clinical Translation

Abstract

With the rapid growth of advanced nanoengineering strategies, there are great implications for therapeutic immunostimulators formulated in nanomaterials to combat cancer. It is crucial to direct immunostimulators to the right tissue and specific immune cells at the right time, thereby orchestrating the desired, potent, and durable immune response against cancer. The flexibility of nanoformulations in size, topology, softness, and multifunctionality allows precise regulation of nano‐immunological activities for enhanced therapeutic effect. To grasp the modulation of immune response, research efforts are needed to understand the interactions of immune cells at lymph organs and tumor tissues, where the nanoformulations guide the immunostimulators to function on tissue specific subsets of immune cells. In this review, recent advanced nanoformulations targeting specific subset of immune cells, such as dendritic cells (DCs), T cells, monocytes, macrophages, and natural killer (NK) cells are summarized and discussed, and clinical development of nano‐paradigms for targeted cancer immunotherapy is highlighted. Here the focus is on the targeting nanoformulations that can passively or actively target certain immune cells by overcoming the physiobiological barriers, instead of directly injecting into tissues. The opportunities and remaining obstacles for the clinical translation of immune cell targeting nanoformulations in cancer therapy are also discussed.

Regulation of Antigen‐Specific Immunotherapy with Nanomaterials

“…[ 72 ] Nanomaterials represent promising tools for developing new cancer therapies, particularly antigen‐specific cancer immunotherapy. [ 73 ] This approach initiates the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells by stimulating the production of tumor‐specific cytotoxic T‐cells. [ 74 ] Owing to their exceptional physical and chemical features, nanomaterials can be engineered to target specific tissues and immune cells to deliver cancer vaccines.…”

Specific interaction based drug loading strategies

“…Nanoscale drug delivery systems (DDSs) have been applied in the treatment of clinical diseases, [1][2][3][4][5][6] especially in cancer therapy. [3][4][5][6] Rationally designed drug carriers can improve the solubility of drugs, 7,8 enhance drug targeting, [9][10][11][12] increase drug penetration and/or realize drug-controlled release.…”

“…Nanoscale drug delivery systems (DDSs) have been applied in the treatment of clinical diseases, [1][2][3][4][5][6] especially in cancer therapy. [3][4][5][6] Rationally designed drug carriers can improve the solubility of drugs, 7,8 enhance drug targeting, [9][10][11][12] increase drug penetration and/or realize drug-controlled release. [13][14][15][16][17] Several types of materials have been investigated to construct DDSs, including organic materials such as phospholipids, 18,19 polymers, [20][21][22] biological membranes, [23][24][25] viruses, 26 and bacteria, [27][28][29] and inorganic materials such as gold and silicon nanoparticles, [30][31][32][33] as well as hybrid materials.…”

Highly Mimetic Ex Vivo Lung‐Cancer Spheroid‐Based Physiological Model for Clinical Precision Therapeutics

“…Lung cancer, especially non-small cell lung cancer, is a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide owing to its extremely clonal and heterogeneous characteristics. [1] Despite the increasing availability of novel therapeutics and genomics analysis, recurrent mutations and subsequent drug resistance have occurred in late-stage patients, for whom therapeutic selection remains difficult. Therefore, an ex vivo patientderived cancer model may play an essential role in filling the gap between genomics and therapeutic responses.…”