Surface specifically modified NK-92 cells with CD56 antibody conjugated superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles for magnetic targeting immunotherapy of solid tumors

NK-92 cells labeled with Fe3O4-PEG-CD56/Avastin@Ce6 nanoprobes for the targeted treatment and noninvasive therapeutic evaluation of breast cancer

Adoptive cellular immunotherapy as a promising and alternative cancer therapy platform is critical for future clinical applications. Natural killer (NK) cells have attracted attention as an important type of innate immune regulatory cells that can rapidly kill multiple adjacent cancer cells. However, these cells are significantly less effective in treating solid tumors than in treating hematological tumors. Herein, we report the synthesis of a Fe3O4-PEG-CD56/Avastin@Ce6 nanoprobe labeled with NK-92 cells that can be used for adoptive cellular immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy and dual-modality imaging-based in vivo fate tracking. The labeled NK-92 cells specifically target the tumor cells, which increases the amount of cancer cell apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, the in vivo results indicate that the labeled NK-92 cells can be used for tumor magnetic resonance imaging and fluorescence imaging, adoptive cellular immunotherapy, and photodynamic therapy after tail vein injection. These data show that the developed multifunctional nanostructure is a promising platform for efficient innate immunotherapy, photodynamic treatment and noninvasive therapeutic evaluation of breast cancer.

Ultrasmall Fe3O4 nanoparticles self-assembly induced dual-mode T1/T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and enhanced tumor synergetic theranostics

Individual theranostic agents with dual-mode MRI responses and therapeutic efficacy have attracted extensive interest due to the real-time monitor and high effective treatment, which endow the providential treatment and avoid the repeated medication with side effects. However, it is difficult to achieve the integrated strategy of MRI and therapeutic drug due to complicated synthesis route, low efficiency and potential biosafety issues. In this study, novel self-assembled ultrasmall Fe3O4 nanoclusters were developed for tumor-targeted dual-mode T1/T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guided synergetic chemodynamic therapy (CDT) and chemotherapy. The self-assembled ultrasmall Fe3O4 nanoclusters synthesized by facilely modifying ultrasmall Fe3O4 nanoparticles with 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) molecule possess long-term stability and mass production ability. The proposed ultrasmall Fe3O4 nanoclusters shows excellent dual-mode T1 and T2 MRI capacities as well as favorable CDT ability due to the appropriate size effect and the abundant Fe ion on the surface of ultrasmall Fe3O4 nanoclusters. After conjugation with the tumor targeting ligand Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) and chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (Dox), the functionalized Fe3O4 nanoclusters achieve enhanced tumor accumulation and retention effects and synergetic CDT and chemotherapy function, which serve as a powerful integrated theranostic platform for cancer treatment.

Mnox Nanoenzyme Armed CAR-NK Cells Enhance Solid Tumor Immunotherapy by Alleviating the Immunosuppressive Microenvironment

Adoptively transferred cells usually suffer from exhaustion, limited expansion, and poor infiltration, partially attributing to the complicated immunosuppressive microenvironment of solid tumors. Therefore, it is necessary to explore more effective strategies to improve the poor tumor microenvironment (TME) to efficaciously deliver and support extrinsic effector cells in vivo. Herein, an intelligent biodegradable hollow manganese dioxide nanoparticle (MnOX) that possesses peroxidase activity to catalyze excess H2O2 in the TME to produce oxygen and relieve the hypoxia of solid tumors is developed. MnOX nanoenzymes modified with CD56 antibody could specifically bind CAR-NK (chimeric antigen receptor modified natural killer) cells. It is demonstrated that CAR-NK cells incorporated with MnOX nanoenzymes effectively infiltrate into tumor tissues with an improved TME, which results in superior antitumor activity in solid tumor-bearing mice. The antibody connection between MnOX nanoenzymes and CAR-NK endows the lowest efficient dosage of MnOX. This study features a smart synergistic immunotherapy approach for solid tumors using MnOX nanoenzyme-armed CAR-NK cells, which would provide a valuable tool for immunocyte therapy in solid tumors.

Biomimetic Cell-Derived Nanoparticles: Emerging Platforms for Cancer Immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy can significantly prevent tumor growth and metastasis by activating the autoimmune system without destroying normal cells. Although cancer immunotherapy has made some achievements in clinical cancer treatment, it is still restricted by systemic immunotoxicity, immune cell dysfunction, cancer heterogeneity, and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (ITME). Biomimetic cell-derived nanoparticles are attracting considerable interest due to their better biocompatibility and lower immunogenicity. Moreover, biomimetic cell-derived nanoparticles can achieve different preferred biological effects due to their inherent abundant source cell-relevant functions. This review summarizes the latest developments in biomimetic cell-derived nanoparticles for cancer immunotherapy, discusses the applications of each biomimetic system in cancer immunotherapy, and analyzes the challenges for clinical transformation.

Research progress in leveraging biomaterials for enhancing NK cell immunotherapy

NK cell immunotherapy is a promising antitumor therapeutic modality after the development of T cell immunotherapy. Structural modification of NK cells with biomaterials may provide a precise, efficient, and low-cost strategy to enhance NK cell immunotherapy. The biomaterial modification of NK cells can be divided into two strategies: surface engineering with biomaterials and intracellular modification. The surface engineering strategies include hydrophobic interaction of lipids, receptor-ligand interaction between membrane proteins, covalent binding to amino acid residues, click reaction and electrostatic interaction. The intracellular modification strategies are based on manipulation by nanotechnology using membranous materials from various sources of NK cells (such as exosome, vesicle and cytomembranes). Finally, the biomaterials-based strategies regulate the recruitment, recognition and cytotoxicity of NK cells in the solid tumor site in situ to boost the activity of NK cells in the tumor. This article reviews the recent research progress in enhancing NK cell therapy based on biomaterial modification, to provide a reference for further researches on engineering NK cell therapy with biomaterials.

Ultrasound-Responsive Biomimetic Superhydrophobic Drug-Loaded Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Treating Prostate Tumor

Interfacial nanobubbles on a superhydrophobic surface can serve as ultrasound cavitation nuclei for continuously promoting sonodynamic therapy, but their poor dispersibility in blood has limited their biomedical application. In this study, we proposed ultrasound-responsive biomimetic superhydrophobic mesoporous silica nanoparticles, modified with red blood cell membrane and loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) (F-MSN-DOX@RBC), for RM-1 tumor sonodynamic therapy. Their mean size and zeta potentials were 232 ± 78.8 nm and −35.57 ± 0.74 mV, respectively. The F-MSN-DOX@RBC accumulation in a tumor was significantly higher than in the control group, and the spleen uptake of F-MSN-DOX@RBC was significantly reduced in comparison to that of the F-MSN-DOX group. Moreover, the cavitation caused by a single dose of F-MSN-DOX@RBC combined with multiple ultrasounds provided continuous sonodynamic therapy. The tumor inhibition rates in the experimental group were 71.5 8 ± 9.54%, which is significantly better than the control group. DHE and CD31 fluorescence staining was used to assess the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated and the broken tumor vascular system induced by ultrasound. Finally, we can conclude that the combination of anti-vascular therapy, sonodynamic therapy by ROS, and chemotherapy promoted tumor treatment efficacy. The use of red blood cell membrane-modified superhydrophobic silica nanoparticles is a promising strategy in designing ultrasound-responsive nanoparticles to promote drug-release.

Advances, challenge and prospects in cell-mediated nanodrug delivery for cancer therapy: a review

Nanomedicine offers considerable opportunities to improve drugability and reduce toxicity for tumour therapy. However, the application of nanomedicine has achieved little success in clinical trials due to multiple physiological barriers to drug delivery. Circulating cells are expected to improve the physical distribution of drugs and enhance the therapeutic effect by overcoming various biological barriers in collaboration with nano-drug delivery systems owing to excellent biocompatibility, low immunogenicity and a long-circulation time and strong binding specificity. Nonetheless, we have noticed some limitations in implementing tthe strategy. In this article, we intend to introduce the latest progress in research and application of circulating cell-mediated nano-drug delivery systems, describe the main cell-related drug delivery modes, sum up the relevant points of the transport systems in the process of loading, transport and release, and lastly discuss the advantages, challenges and future development trends in cell-mediated nano-drug delivery.

Surface-engineered nanoparticles in cancer immune response and immunotherapy: Current status and future prospects

Cancer immunotherapy is a therapeutic strategy to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis by intervening in the immune response process. Strategies applied to cancer immunotherapy mainly include blocking immune checkpoints, adoptive transfer of engineered immune cells, cytokine therapy, cancer vaccines, and oncolytic virus infection. However, many factors, such as off-target side effects, immunosuppressive cell infiltration and/or upregulation of immune checkpoint expression, cancer cell heterogeneity, and lack of antigen presentation, affect the therapeutic effect of immunotherapy on cancer. To improve the efficacy of targeted immunotherapy and reduce off-target effects, over the past two decades, nanoparticle delivery platforms have been increasingly used in tumor immunotherapy. However, nanoparticles are still subject to biological barriers and biodistribution challenges, which limit their overall clinical potential. This has prompted a series of engineered nanoparticles to overcome specific obstacles and transfer the accumulation of payloads to tumor-infiltrating immune cells. In recent years, new techniques and chemical methods have been employed to modify or functionalize the surfaces of nanoparticles. This review discusses the recent progress of surface-engineered nanoparticles in inducing tumor immune responses and immunotherapy, as well as future directions for the development of next-generation nanomedicines.

Cell surface-nanoengineering for cancer targeting immunoregulation and precise immunotherapy

Living cells have become ideal therapeutic agents for cancer treatment owing to their innate activities, such as efficient tumor targeting and delivery, easy engineering, immunomodulatory properties, and fewer adverse effects. However, cell agents are often fragile to rigorous tumor microenvironment (TME) and limited by inadequate therapeutic responses, leading to unwanted treatment efficacy. Cell nanomodification, particularly the cell surface-nanoengineering has emerged as reliable and efficient strategy that not only combines cell activity properties with nanomaterials but also endows them with extra novel functions, enabling to achieve remarkable treatment results. In this review, we systematically introduce two major strategies have been adopted to develop cell surface engineering with nanomaterials, mainly including living cell nano-backpacks and cell membrane-mimicking nanoparticles (NPs). Based on various functional NPs and cell types, we focus on reviewing the cell-surface nanoengineering for targeted drug delivery, immune microenvironment regulation, and precisely antitumor therapy. The advances and challenges of cell surface-nanoengineered antitumor agents for cancer therapy applications are further discussed in future clinical practice. This review provides an overview of the advances in cell surface-engineering for targeting immunoregulation and treatment and could contribute to the future of advanced cell-based antitumor therapeutic applications. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Cells at the Nanoscale.

Nanomedicine approaches for treatment of hematologic and oncologic malignancies

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Nowadays, the therapies are inadequate and spur demand for improved technologies. Rapid growth in nanotechnology and novel nanomedicine products represents an opportunity to achieve sophisticated targeting strategies and multi-functionality. Nanomedicine is increasingly used to develop new cancer diagnosis and treatment methods since this technology can modulate the biodistribution and the target site accumulation of chemotherapeutic drugs, thereby reducing their toxicity. Cancer nanotechnology and cancer immunotherapy are two parallel themes that have emerged over the last few decades while searching for a cure for cancer. Immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer treatment, as it can achieve unprecedented responses in advanced-stage patients, including complete cures and long-term survival. A deeper understanding of the human immune system allows the establishment of combination regimens in which immunotherapy is combined with other treatment modalities (as in the case of the nanodrug Ferumoxytol). Furthermore, the combination of gene therapy approaches with nanotechnology that aims to silence or express cancer-relevant genes via one-time treatment is gradually progressing from bench to bedside. The most common example includes lipid-based nanoparticles that target VEGF-Α and KRAS pathways. This review focuses on nanoparticle-based platforms utilized in recent advances aiming to increase the efficacy of currently available cancer therapies. The insights provided and the evidence obtained in this paper indicate a bright future ahead for immuno-oncology applications of engineering nanomedicines.

Ubiquitous Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule (NCAM): Potential Mechanism and Valorisation in Cancer Pathophysiology, Drug Targeting and Molecular Transductions

Neural cell adhesion molecule, an integrated molecule of immunoglobulin protein superfamily involved in cell-cell adhesion, undergoes various structural modifications through numerous temporal-spatial regulations that generously alter their expressions on cell surfaces. These varied expression patterns are mostly envisioned in the morphogenesis and innervations of different human organs and systems. The considerable role of NCAM in neurite growth, brain development and etc. and its altered expression of NCAM in proliferating tumour cells and metastasis of various human melanomas clearly substantiate its appropriateness as a cell surface marker for diagnosis and potential target for several therapeutic moieties. This characteristic behaviour of NCAM is confined to its novel biochemistry, structural properties, signalling interactions and polysialylation. In particular, the characteristic expressions of NCAM are mainly attributed by its polysialylation, a post-translational modification that attaches polysialyl groups to the NCAM. The altered expression of NCAM on cell surface develops curiosity amidst pharmaceutical scientists, which drives them to understand its role of such expressions in various human melanomas and to elucidate the promising therapeutic strategies that are currently available to target NCAM appositely. Therefore, this review article is articulated with an insight on the altered expressions of NCAM, the clinical significances and the consequences of such atypical expression patterns in various human organs and systems.

Micro/Nanosystems for Magnetic Targeted Delivery of Bioagents

Targeted delivery of pharmaceuticals is promising for efficient disease treatment and reduction in adverse effects. Nano or microstructured magnetic materials with strong magnetic momentum can be noninvasively controlled via magnetic forces within living beings. These magnetic carriers open perspectives in controlling the delivery of different types of bioagents in humans, including small molecules, nucleic acids, and cells. In the present review, we describe different types of magnetic carriers that can serve as drug delivery platforms, and we show different ways to apply them to magnetic targeted delivery of bioagents. We discuss the magnetic guidance of nano/microsystems or labeled cells upon injection into the systemic circulation or in the tissue; we then highlight emergent applications in tissue engineering, and finally, we show how magnetic targeting can integrate with imaging technologies that serve to assist drug delivery.