Nano-adjuvants and immune agonists promote antitumor immunity of peptide amphiphiles

Advances in therapeutic cancer vaccines: Harnessing immune adjuvants for enhanced efficacy and future perspectives

Preventive cancer vaccines are highly effective in preventing viral infection-induced cancer, but advances in therapeutic cancer vaccines with a focus on eliminating cancer cells through immunotherapy are limited. To develop therapeutic cancer vaccines, the integration of optimal adjuvants is a potential strategy to enhance or complement existing therapeutic approaches. However, conventional adjuvants do not satisfy the criteria of clinical trials for therapeutic cancer vaccines. To improve the effects of adjuvants in therapeutic cancer vaccines, effective vaccination strategies must be formulated and novel adjuvants must be identified. This review offers an overview of the current advancements in therapeutic cancer vaccines and highlights in situ vaccination approaches that can be synergistically combined with other immunotherapies by harnessing the adjuvant effects. Additionally, the refinement of adjuvant systems using cutting-edge technologies and the elucidation of molecular mechanisms underlying immunogenic cell death to facilitate the development of innovative adjuvants have been discussed.

Nanocarrier design for pathogen-inspired innate immune agonist delivery

In complex diseases such as cancer, modulating cytokine signatures of disease using innate immune agonists holds therapeutic promise. Novel multi-agonist treatments offer tunable control of the immune system because they are uniquely pathogen inspired, eliciting robust antitumor responses by promoting synergistic cytokine responses. However, the chief strategic hurdle is ensuring multi-agonist delivery to the same target cells, highlighting the importance of using nanomaterial-based carriers. Here, we place nanocarriers in center stage and review the delivery hurdles related to the varying extra- and intracellular localizations of innate immune receptors. We discuss a range of nanomaterials used for multi-agonist delivery, highlighting their respective benefits and drawbacks. Our overarching stance is that rational nanocarrier design is crucial for developing pathogen-inspired multi-agonist immunotherapies.

Genetically Engineered Cytomembrane Nanovaccines for Cancer Immunotherapy

Cancer nanovaccines have attracted widespread attention by inducing potent cytotoxic T cell responses to improve immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy, while the lack of co-stimulatory molecules limits their clinical applications. Here, a genetically engineered cancer cytomembrane nanovaccine is reported that simultaneously overexpresses co-stimulatory molecule CD40L and immune checkpoint inhibitor PD1 to elicit robust antitumor immunity for cancer immunotherapy. The CD40L and tumor antigens inherited from cancer cytomembranes effectively stimulate dendritic cell (DC)-mediated immune activation of cytotoxic T cells, while the PD1 on cancer cytomembranes significantly blocks PD1/PD-L1 signaling pathway, synergistically stimulating antitumor immune responses. Benefiting from the targeting ability of cancer cytomembranes, this nanovaccines formula shows an enhanced lymph node trafficking and retention. Compared with original cancer cytomembranes, this genetically engineered nanovaccine induces twofold DC maturation and shows satisfactory precaution efficacy in a breast tumor mouse model. This genetically engineered cytomembrane nanovaccine offers a simple, safe, and robust strategy by incorporating cytomembrane components and co-stimulatory molecules for enhanced cancer immunotherapy.

Nanoparticles Targeting Lymph Nodes for Cancer Immunotherapy: Strategies and Influencing Factors

Immunotherapy has emerged as a potent strategy in cancer treatment, with many approved drugs and modalities in the development stages. Despite its promise, immunotherapy is not without its limitations, including side effects and suboptimal efficacy. Using nanoparticles (NPs) as delivery vehicles to target immunotherapy to lymph nodes (LNs) can improve the efficacy of immunotherapy drugs and reduce side effects in patients. In this context, this paper reviews the development of LN-targeted immunotherapeutic NP strategies, the mechanisms of NP transport during LN targeting, and their related biosafety risks. NP targeting of LNs involves either passive targeting, influenced by NP physical properties, or active targeting, facilitated by affinity ligands on NP surfaces, while alternative methods, such as intranodal injection and high endothelial venule (HEV) targeting, have uncertain clinical applicability and require further research and validation. LN targeting of NPs for immunotherapy can reduce side effects and increase biocompatibility, but risks such as toxicity, organ accumulation, and oxidative stress remain, although strategies such as biodegradable biomacromolecules, polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating, and impurity addition can mitigate these risks. Additionally, this work concludes with a future-oriented discussion, offering critical insights into the field.

Next-generation CD40 agonists for cancer immunotherapy

INTRODUCTION

There is a need for new therapies that can enhance response rates and broaden the number of cancer indications where immunotherapies provide clinical benefit. CD40 targeting therapies provide an opportunity to meet this need by promoting priming of tumor-specific T cells and reverting the suppressive tumor microenvironment. This is supported by emerging clinical evidence demonstrating the benefits of immunotherapy with CD40 antibodies in combination with standard of care chemotherapy.

AREAS COVERED

This review is focused on the coming wave of next-generation CD40 agonists aiming to improve efficacy and safety, using new approaches and formats beyond monospecific antibodies. Further, the current understanding of the role of different CD40 expressing immune cell populations in the tumor microenvironment is reviewed.

EXPERT OPINION

There are multiple promising next-generation approaches beyond monospecific antibodies targeting CD40 in immuno-oncology. Enhancing efficacy is the most important driver for this development, and approaches that maximize the ability of CD40 to both remodel the tumor microenvironment and boost the anti-tumor T cell response provide great opportunities to benefit cancer patients. Enhanced understanding of the role of different CD40 expressing immune cells in the tumor microenvironment may facilitate more efficient clinical development of these compounds.

Tumor Microenvironment Sequential Drug/Gene Delivery Nanosystem for Realizing Multistage Boosting of Cancer-Immunity Cycle on Cancer Immunotherapy

The antitumor immune response of cancer immunotherapy is a cascade of cancer-immunity cycles (CIC). The immunosuppression of the tumor microenvironment and low immunogenicity of tumor cells, insufficient T lymphocyte activation, trafficking, and infiltration caused the failure to initiate and run the continuous multistage CIC, leading to unsatisfactory cancer immunotherapy outcomes. A doxorubicin/interleukin-12 plasmid DNA/celecoxib (DOX/pIL-12/CXB) combination strategy was designed by targeting the cascade CIC. Then, an intratumoral CXB-detachable nanosystem, or DOX/PAC/pIL-12 micelleplexes, was developed for sequential drug/gene delivery to facilitate the multistage boosting of CIC on synergistic cancer immunotherapy. The DOX/PAC/pIL-12 micelleplexes could program intratumorally sequential release of CXB to remodulate the tumor microenvironment immunosuppression by suppressing the cyclooxygenase-2/prostaglandin E2 (COX-2/PGE2) pathway. The smaller sizes and surface charge-switched micelleplexes facilitated the codelivery and corelease of DOX and pIL-12 inside 4T1 tumor cells. These micelleplexes exerted a synergistic antitumor immune response using CIC cascade activation and amplification, providing therapeutic antitumor and antimetastasis efficacy. The drug/gene sequential delivery nanosystem provides a complete CIC-boosted combinatory strategy for developing immunotherapy against cancer.