ATP stabilised and sensitised calcium phosphate nanoparticles as effective adjuvants for a DNA vaccine against cancer

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.

Patient derived cancer organoids model the response to HER2-CD3 bispecific antibody (BsAbHER2) generated from hydroxyapatite gene delivery system

HER2-positive cancer is a prevalent subtype of malignancy with poor prognosis, yet current targeted therapies, like Trastuzumab and pyrotinib, have resulted in remission in patients with HER2-positive cancer. This study provides a novel approach for immunotherapy based on a hydroxyapatite (HA) gene delivery system producing a bispecific antibody for HER2-positive cancer treatment. An HA nanocarrier has been synthesized by the classical hydrothermal method. Particularly, the HA-nanoneedle system was able to mediate stable gene expression of minicircle DNA (MC) encoding a humanized anti-CD3/anti-HER2 bispecific antibody (BsAbHER2) in vivo. The produced BsAbs exhibited a potent killing effect not only in HER2-positive cancer cells but also in patient-derived organoids in vitro. This HA-nanoneedle gene delivery system features simple large-scale preparation and clinical applicability. Hence, the HA-nanoneedle gene delivery system combined with minicircle DNA vector encoding BsAbHER2 reported here provides a potential immunotherapy strategy for HER2-positive tumors.

The quest for nanoparticle-powered vaccines in cancer immunotherapy

Despite recent advancements in cancer treatment, this disease still poses a serious threat to public health. Vaccines play an important role in preventing illness by preparing the body's adaptive and innate immune responses to combat diseases. As our understanding of malignancies and their connection to the immune system improves, there has been a growing interest in priming the immune system to fight malignancies more effectively and comprehensively. One promising approach involves utilizing nanoparticle systems for antigen delivery, which has been shown to potentiate immune responses as vaccines and/or adjuvants. In this review, we comprehensively summarized the immunological mechanisms of cancer vaccines while focusing specifically on the recent applications of various types of nanoparticles in the field of cancer immunotherapy. By exploring these recent breakthroughs, we hope to identify significant challenges and obstacles in making nanoparticle-based vaccines and adjuvants feasible for clinical application. This review serves to assess recent breakthroughs in nanoparticle-based cancer vaccinations and shed light on their prospects and potential barriers. By doing so, we aim to inspire future immunotherapies for cancer that harness the potential of nanotechnology to deliver more effective and targeted treatments.

Research progress of nanovaccine in anti-tumor immunotherapy

Tumor vaccines aim to activate dormant or unresponsive tumor-specific T lymphocytes by using tumor-specific or tumor-associated antigens, thus enhancing the body's natural defense against cancer. However, the effectiveness of tumor vaccines is limited by the presence of tumor heterogeneity, low immunogenicity, and immune evasion mechanisms. Fortunately, multifunctional nanoparticles offer a unique chance to address these issues. With the advantages of their small size, high stability, efficient drug delivery, and controlled surface chemistry, nanomaterials can precisely target tumor sites, improve the delivery of tumor antigens and immune adjuvants, reshape the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, and enhance the body's anti-tumor immune response, resulting in improved efficacy and reduced side effects. Nanovaccine, a type of vaccine that uses nanotechnology to deliver antigens and adjuvants to immune cells, has emerged as a promising strategy for cancer immunotherapy due to its ability to stimulate immune responses and induce tumor-specific immunity. In this review, we discussed the compositions and types of nanovaccine, and the mechanisms behind their anti-tumor effects based on the latest research. We hope that this will provide a more scientific basis for designing tumor vaccines and enhancing the effectiveness of tumor immunotherapy.

Advances in Cancer Nanovaccines: Harnessing Nanotechnology for Broadening Cancer Immune Response

Many advances have been made recently in the field of cancer immunotherapy, particularly with the development of treatments such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive cellular immunotherapy. The efficacy of immunotherapy is limited, however, owing to high levels of tumor heterogeneity and the immunosuppressive environments of advanced malignant tumors. Therefore, therapeutic anticancer vaccines have gradually become powerful tools for inducing valid antitumor immune responses and regulating the immune microenvironment. Tumor vaccines loaded in nanocarriers have become an indispensable delivery platform for tumor treatment because of their enhanced stability, targeting capability, and high level of safety. Through a unique design, cancer nanovaccines activate innate immunity and tumor-specific immunity simultaneously. For example, the design of cancer vaccines can incorporate strategies such as enhancing the stability and targeting of tumor antigens, combining effective adjuvants, cytokines, and immune microenvironment regulators, and promoting the maturation and cross-presentation of antigen-presenting cells (APCs). In this review, we discuss the design and preparation of nanovaccines for remodeling tumor antigen immunogenicity and regulating the immunosuppressive microenvironment.

Magnetic nanoparticles enhance the cellular immune response of dendritic cell tumor vaccines by realizing the cytoplasmic delivery of tumor antigens

Dendritic cells (DCs)-based tumor vaccines have the advantages of high safety and rapid activation of T cells, and have been approved for clinical tumor treatment. However, the conventional DC vaccines have some severe problems, such as poor activation of DCs in vitro, low level of antigen presentation, reduced cell viability, and difficulty in targeting lymph nodes in vivo, resulting in poor clinical therapeutic effects. In this research, magnetic nanoparticles Fe₃O₄@Ca/MnCO₃ were prepared and used to actively and efficiently deliver antigens to the cytoplasm of DCs, promote antigen cross-presentation and DC activation, and finally enhance the cellular immune response of DC vaccines. The results show that the magnetic nanoparticles can actively and quickly deliver antigens to the cytoplasm of DCs by regulating the magnetic field, and achieve cross-presentation of antigens. At the same time, the nanoparticles degradation product Mn²⁺ enhanced immune stimulation through the interferon gene stimulating protein (STING) pathway, and another degradation product Ca²⁺ ultimately promoted cellular immune response by increasing autophagy. The DC vaccine constructed with the magnetic nanoparticles can more effectively migrate to the lymph nodes, promote the proliferation of CD8⁺ T cells, prolong the time of immune memory, and produce higher antibody levels. Compared with traditional DC vaccines, cytoplasmic antigen delivery with the magnetic nanoparticles provides a new idea for the construction of novel DC vaccines.

Calcium Phosphate-Based Biomaterials for Bone Repair

Traumatic, tumoral, and infectious bone defects are common in clinics, and create a big burden on patient's families and society. Calcium phosphate (CaP)-based biomaterials have superior properties and have been widely used for bone defect repair, due to their similarities to the inorganic components of human bones. The biological performance of CaPs, as a determining factor for their applications, are dependent on their physicochemical properties. Hydroxyapatite (HAP) as the most thermally stable crystalline phase of CaP is mostly used in the form of ceramics or composites scaffolds with polymers. Nanostructured CaPs with large surface areas are suitable for drug/gene delivery systems. Additionally, CaP scaffolds with hierarchical nano-/microstructures have demonstrated excellent ability in promoting bone regeneration. This review focuses on the relationships and interactions between the physicochemical/biological properties of CaP biomaterials and their species, sizes, and morphologies in bone regeneration, including synthesis strategies, structure control, biological behavior, and the mechanisms of CaP in promoting osteogenesis. This review will be helpful for scientists and engineers to further understand CaP-based biomaterials (CaPs), and be useful in developing new high-performance biomaterials for bone repair.

Nanoparticles as Physically- and Biochemically-Tuned Drug Formulations for Cancers Therapy

Simple Summary

Conventional antitumor drugs have limitations, including poor water solubility and lack of targeting capability, with consequent non-specific distribution, systemic toxicity, and low therapeutic index. Nanotechnology promises to overcome these drawbacks by exploiting the physical properties of diverse nanocarriers that can be linked to moieties with binding selectivity for cancer cells. The use of nanoparticles as therapeutic formulations allows a targeted delivery and a slow, controlled release of the drug(s), making them tunable modules for applications in precision medicine. In addition, nanoparticles are also being developed as cancer vaccines, offering an opportunity to increase both cellular and humoral immunity, thus providing a new weapon to beat cancer.

Abstract

Malignant tumors originate from a combination of genetic alterations, which induce activation of oncogenes and inactivation of oncosuppressor genes, ultimately resulting in uncontrolled growth and neoplastic transformation. Chemotherapy prevents the abnormal proliferation of cancer cells, but it also affects the entire cellular network in the human body with heavy side effects. For this reason, the ultimate aim of cancer therapy remains to selectively kill cancer cells while sparing their normal counterparts. Nanoparticle formulations have the potential to achieve this aim by providing optimized drug delivery to a pathological site with minimal accumulation in healthy tissues. In this review, we will first describe the characteristics of recently developed nanoparticles and how their physical properties and targeting functionalization are exploited depending on their therapeutic payload, route of delivery, and tumor type. Second, we will analyze how nanoparticles can overcome multidrug resistance based on their ability to combine different therapies and targeting moieties within a single formulation. Finally, we will discuss how the implementation of these strategies has led to the generation of nanoparticle-based cancer vaccines as cutting-edge instruments for cancer immunotherapy.

Engineering Optimal Vaccination Strategies: Effects of Physical Properties of the Delivery System on Functions

With rapid developments in medical science and technology, vaccinations have become the key to solving public health problems. Various diseases can be prevented by vaccinations, which mimic a disease by...

A brief review on DNA vaccines in the era of COVID-19

This article provides a brief overview of DNA vaccines. First, the basic DNA vaccine design strategies are described, then specific issues related to the industrial production of DNA vaccines are discussed, including the production and purification of DNA products such as plasmid DNA, minicircle DNA, minimalistic, immunologically defined gene expression (MIDGE) and Doggybone™. The use of adjuvants to enhance the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines is then discussed. In addition, different delivery routes and several physical and chemical methods to increase the efficacy of DNA delivery into cells are explained. Recent preclinical and clinical trials of DNA vaccines for COVID-19 are then summarized. Lastly, the advantages and obstacles of DNA vaccines are discussed.