NIR/photoacoustic imaging of multitype gallbladder cancer using carboxyl/amino functionalized polymer dots

Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles for Tumor Theranostics

Water-dispersible conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CPNs) have demonstrated great capabilities in biological applications, such as in vitro cell/subcellular imaging and biosensing, or in vivo tissue imaging and disease treatment. In this review, we summarized the recent advances of CPNs used for tumor imaging and treatment during the past five years. CPNs with different structures, which have been applied to in vivo solid tumor imaging (fluorescence, photoacoustic, and dual-modal) and treatment (phototherapy, drug carriers, and synergistic therapy), are discussed in detail. We also demonstrated the potential of CPNs as cancer theranostic nanoplatforms. Finally, we discussed current challenges and outlooks in this field.

Improved cancer immunotherapy strategies by nanomedicine

Cancer immunotherapy agents fight cancer via immune system stimulation and have made significant advances in minimizing side effects and prolonging the survival of patients with solid tumors. However, major limitations still exist in cancer immunotherapy, including the inefficiency of immune response stimulation in specific cancer types, therapy resistance caused by the tumor microenvironment (TME), toxicities by the immune imbalance, and short lifetime of stimulator of interferon genes (STING) agonist. Recent advances in nanomedicine have shown significant potential in overcoming the obstacles of cancer immunotherapy. Several nanoscale agents have been reported for cancer immunotherapy, including nanoscale cancer vaccines impacting the STING pathway, nanomaterials reprogramming TME, nano-agents triggering immune response with immune checkpoint inhibitor synergy, ferroptosis-mediated and indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase immunosuppression-mediated cancer immunotherapy, and nanomedicine-meditated chimeric antigen receptor-T-cell therapy. Herein, we summarize the major advances and innovations in nanomedicine-based cancer immunotherapy, and outline the opportunities and challenges to integrate more advanced nanomaterials into cancer immunotherapy. This article is categorized under: Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies.