Nanoparticles as Smart Carriers for Enhanced Cancer Immunotherapy

Biomimetic functionalized metal organic frameworks as multifunctional agents: Paving the way for cancer vaccine advances

Biomimetic functionalized metal-organic frameworks (Fn-MOFs) represent a cutting-edge approach in the realm of cancer vaccines. These multifunctional agents, inspired by biological systems, offer unprecedented opportunities for the development of next-generation cancer vaccines. The vast surface area, tunable pore size, and diverse chemistry of MOFs provide a versatile scaffold for the encapsulation and protection of antigenic components, crucial for vaccine stability and delivery. This work delves into the innovative design and application of Fn-MOFs, highlighting their role as carriers for immune enhancement and their potential to revolutionize vaccine delivery. By mimicking natural processes, Fn-MOFs, with their ability to be functionalized with a myriad of chemical and biological entities, exhibit superior biocompatibility and stimuli-responsive behavior and facilitate targeted delivery to tumor sites. This review encapsulates the latest advancements in Fn-MOF technology, from their synthesis and surface modification to their integration into stimuli-responsive and combination therapies. It underscores the significance of biomimetic approaches in overcoming current challenges in cancer vaccine development, such as antigen stability and immune evasion. By leveraging the biomimetic nature of Fn-MOFs, this work paves the way for innovative strategies in cancer vaccines, aiming to induce potent and long-lasting immune responses against malignancies.

Therapeutic Applications of Nanomedicine: Recent Developments and Future Perspectives

The concept of nanomedicine has evolved significantly in recent decades, leveraging the unique phenomenon known as the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. This has facilitated major advancements in targeted drug delivery, imaging, and individualized therapy through the integration of nanotechnology principles into medicine. Numerous nanomedicines have been developed and applied for disease treatment, with a particular focus on cancer therapy. Recently, nanomedicine has been utilized in various advanced fields, including diagnosis, vaccines, immunotherapy, gene delivery, and tissue engineering. Multifunctional nanomedicines facilitate concurrent medication delivery, therapeutic monitoring, and imaging, allowing for immediate responses and personalized treatment plans. This review concerns the major advancement of nanomaterials and their potential applications in the biological and medical fields. Along with this, we also mention the various clinical translations of nanomedicine and the major challenges that nanomedicine is currently facing to overcome the clinical translation barrier.

Current Landscape of Cancer Immunotherapy: Harnessing the Immune Arsenal to Overcome Immune Evasion

Cancer immune evasion represents a leading hallmark of cancer, posing a significant obstacle to the development of successful anticancer therapies. However, the landscape of cancer treatment has significantly evolved, transitioning into the era of immunotherapy from conventional methods such as surgical resection, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted drug therapy. Immunotherapy has emerged as a pivotal component in cancer treatment, harnessing the body's immune system to combat cancer and offering improved prognostic outcomes for numerous patients. The remarkable success of immunotherapy has spurred significant efforts to enhance the clinical efficacy of existing agents and strategies. Several immunotherapeutic approaches have received approval for targeted cancer treatments, while others are currently in preclinical and clinical trials. This review explores recent progress in unraveling the mechanisms of cancer immune evasion and evaluates the clinical effectiveness of diverse immunotherapy strategies, including cancer vaccines, adoptive cell therapy, and antibody-based treatments. It encompasses both established treatments and those currently under investigation, providing a comprehensive overview of efforts to combat cancer through immunological approaches. Additionally, the article emphasizes the current developments, limitations, and challenges in cancer immunotherapy. Furthermore, by integrating analyses of cancer immunotherapy resistance mechanisms and exploring combination strategies and personalized approaches, it offers valuable insights crucial for the development of novel anticancer immunotherapeutic strategies.

Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles as an Ideal Platform for Cancer Immunotherapy: Recent Advances and Future Directions

Cancer immunotherapy recently transforms the traditional approaches against various cancer malignancies. Immunotherapy includes systemic and local treatments to enhance immune responses against cancer and involves strategies such as immune checkpoints, cancer vaccines, immune modulatory agents, mimetic antigen-presenting cells, and adoptive cell therapy. Despite promising results, these approaches still suffer from several limitations including lack of precise delivery of immune-modulatory agents to the target cells and off-target toxicity, among others, that can be overcome using nanotechnology. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are investigated to improve various aspects of cancer immunotherapy attributed to the advantageous structural features of this nanomaterial. MSNs can be engineered to alter their properties such as size, shape, porosity, surface functionality, and adjuvanticity. This review explores the immunological properties of MSNs and the use of MSNs as delivery vehicles for immune-adjuvants, vaccines, and mimetic antigen-presenting cells (APCs). The review also details the current strategies to remodel the tumor microenvironment to positively reciprocate toward the anti-tumor immune cells and the use of MSNs for immunotherapy in combination with other anti-tumor therapies including photodynamic/thermal therapies to enhance the therapeutic effect against cancer. Last, the present demands and future scenarios for the use of MSNs for cancer immunotherapy are discussed.

Recent advances of nanoparticles on bone tissue engineering and bone cells

With the development of biotechnology, biomaterials have been rapidly developed and shown great potential in bone regeneration therapy and bone tissue engineering. Nanoparticles have attracted the attention of researches and have applied in various fields especially in the biomedical field as the special physicochemical properties. Nanoparticles were found to regulate bone remodeling depending on their size, shape, composition, and charge. Therefore, in-depth research was necessary to provide the basic support to select the most suitable nanoparticles for bone relate diseases treatment. This article reviews the current development of nanoparticles in bone tissue engineering, focusing on drug delivery, gene delivery, and cell labeling. In addition, the research progress on the interaction of nanoparticles with bone cells, focusing on osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and the underlying mechanism were also reviewed. Finally, the current challenges and future research directions are discussed. Thus, detailed study of nanoparticles may reveal new therapeutic strategies to improve the effectiveness of bone regeneration therapy or other bone diseases.

Nanoparticles in tumor microenvironment remodeling and cancer immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy and vaccine development have significantly improved the fight against cancers. Despite these advancements, challenges remain, particularly in the clinical delivery of immunomodulatory compounds. The tumor microenvironment (TME), comprising macrophages, fibroblasts, and immune cells, plays a crucial role in immune response modulation. Nanoparticles, engineered to reshape the TME, have shown promising results in enhancing immunotherapy by facilitating targeted delivery and immune modulation. These nanoparticles can suppress fibroblast activation, promote M1 macrophage polarization, aid dendritic cell maturation, and encourage T cell infiltration. Biomimetic nanoparticles further enhance immunotherapy by increasing the internalization of immunomodulatory agents in immune cells such as dendritic cells. Moreover, exosomes, whether naturally secreted by cells in the body or bioengineered, have been explored to regulate the TME and immune-related cells to affect cancer immunotherapy. Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers, activated by pH, redox, and light conditions, exhibit the potential to accelerate immunotherapy. The co-application of nanoparticles with immune checkpoint inhibitors is an emerging strategy to boost anti-tumor immunity. With their ability to induce long-term immunity, nanoarchitectures are promising structures in vaccine development. This review underscores the critical role of nanoparticles in overcoming current challenges and driving the advancement of cancer immunotherapy and TME modification.

Multistage Self-Assembled Nanomaterials for Cancer Immunotherapy

Advances in nanotechnology have brought innovations to cancer therapy. Nanoparticle-based anticancer drugs have achieved great success from bench to bedside. However, insufficient therapy efficacy due to various physiological barriers in the body remains a key challenge. To overcome these biological barriers and improve the therapeutic efficacy of cancers, multistage self-assembled nanomaterials with advantages of stimuli-responsiveness, programmable delivery, and immune modulations provide great opportunities. In this review, we describe the typical biological barriers for nanomedicines, discuss the recent achievements of multistage self-assembled nanomaterials for stimuli-responsive drug delivery, highlighting the programmable delivery nanomaterials, in situ transformable self-assembled nanomaterials, and immune-reprogramming nanomaterials. Ultimately, we perspective the future opportunities and challenges of multistage self-assembled nanomaterials for cancer immunotherapy.

Progressing nanotechnology to improve targeted cancer treatment: overcoming hurdles in its clinical implementation

The use of nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize the detection and treatment of cancer. Developments in protein engineering and materials science have led to the emergence of new nanoscale targeting techniques, which offer renewed hope for cancer patients. While several nanocarriers for medicinal purposes have been approved for human trials, only a few have been authorized for clinical use in targeting cancer cells. In this review, we analyze some of the authorized formulations and discuss the challenges of translating findings from the lab to the clinic. This study highlights the various nanocarriers and compounds that can be used for selective tumor targeting and the inherent difficulties in cancer therapy. Nanotechnology provides a promising platform for improving cancer detection and treatment in the future, but further research is needed to overcome the current limitations in clinical translation.

An update review of smart nanotherapeutics and liver cancer: opportunities and challenges

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of primary liver cancer, typically diagnosed in advanced stages. Chemotherapy is necessary for treating advanced liver cancer; however, several challenges affect its effectiveness. These challenges include low specificity, high dosage requirements, high systemic toxicity and severe side effects, which significantly limit the efficacy of chemotherapy. These limitations can hinder the treatment of HCC. This review focuses on the prevalence of HCC, different types of liver cancer and the staging of the disease, along with available treatment methods. Additionally, explores recent and relevant studies on smart drug- and gene-delivery systems specifically designed for HCC. These systems include targeted endogenous and exogenous stimuli-responsive platforms.

A new approach to overcoming resistance to immunotherapy: nanotechnology

Immunotherapy for immune response has ushered in a new era of cancer treatment. In recent years, new immunotherapeutic agents have been introduced into clinical trials and even approved for marketing. However, the widespread use of immunotherapeutic agents faces an unavoidable challenge: immunotherapy does not work at all for some patients, or has good efficacy in the initial phase, but immunotherapy resistance develops within a short period of time, and immunotherapy can also cause serious adverse effects such as autoimmune inflammation and non-specific inflammation. How to enable patients to overcome drug resistance, reduce the toxic side effects of drugs, enhance patient compliance and improve patient survival has become a problem that clinicians have to face. The advent of nanotechnology provides an encouraging platform for immunotherapy. It can not only improve the bioavailability and stability of drugs and reduce toxic side effects, but also reduce resistance to immunotherapy. Here, we discuss these research advances and discuss potential challenges and future directions.

Metformin as a booster of cancer immunotherapy

Metformin, a biguanide antidiabetic, has been studied for its repurposing effects in oncology. Although a modest effect was observed in a single-agent regimen, metformin can synergize the anti-tumor effects of other modalities. The promising combination for cancer treatment is with immunotherapy. Despite high efficacy for some cancers, immunotherapy could be limited by modulation of the tumor immune microenvironment and the immune exhaustion of cytotoxic immune cells. Combining immunotherapy with metformin, thus, exerted a rescuing effect of immunotherapy and potentiated the anti-tumor effects of each other. Although not fully understood, metformin shows promoting effects of immunotherapy by several mechanisms. Those proposed mechanisms have been partially proven and are suggested for possible therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment. In this review, a state-of-the-art of metformin's boosting effects on immunotherapy is reviewed and discussed. The future directions for metformin research in preclinical and clinical immunotherapy are also suggested.

Smart Design of Nanostructures for Boosting Tumor Immunogenicity in Cancer Immunotherapy

Although tumor immunotherapy has emerged as a promising therapeutic method for oncology, it encounters several limitations, especially concerning low response rates and potential off-targets that elicit side effects. Furthermore, tumor immunogenicity is the critical factor that predicts the success rate of immunotherapy, which can be boosted by the application of nanotechnology. Herein, we introduce the current approach of cancer immunotherapy and its challenges and the general methods to enhance tumor immunogenicity. Importantly, this review highlights the integration of anticancer chemo/immuno-based drugs with multifunctional nanomedicines that possess imaging modality to determine tumor location and can respond to stimuli, such as light, pH, magnetic field, or metabolic changes, to trigger chemotherapy, phototherapy, radiotherapy, or catalytic therapy to upregulate tumor immunogenicity. This promotion rouses immunological memory, such as enhanced immunogenic cell death, promoted maturation of dendritic cells, and activation of tumor-specific T cells against cancer. Finally, we express the related challenges and personal perspectives of bioengineered nanomaterials for future cancer immunotherapy.

Insights into Gold Nanoparticles Possibilities for Diagnosis and Treatment of the Head and Neck Upper Aerodigestive Tract Cancers

Background: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer affecting people and accounts for more than 300,000 deaths worldwide. Improvements in treatment modalities, including immunotherapy, have demonstrated promising prognoses for eligible patients. Nevertheless, the five-year overall survival rate has not increased significantly, and the tumor recurrence ratio remains at 50% or higher, except for patients with HPV-positive HNSCC. Over the last decades, nanotechnology has provided promising tools, especially for biomedical applications, due to some remarkable physicochemical properties of numerous nanomaterials, particularly gold nanoparticles. This review addresses the features and some applications of gold nanoparticles reported in the literature over the last five years regarding the diagnosis and treatment of head and neck cancer, highlighting the exciting possibilities of this nanomaterial in oncology. Methods: The scientific papers selected for this review were obtained from the PubMed Advanced, Web of Science, Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar platforms. Conclusions: Results from papers applying gold nanoparticles have suggested that their application is a feasible approach to diagnostics, prognostics, and the treatment of HNC. Moreover, phase I clinical trials suggest that gold nanoparticles are safe and can potentially become theranostic agents for humans.

The Role of Different Immunocompetent Cell Populations in the Pathogenesis of Head and Neck Cancer-Regulatory Mechanisms of Pro- and Anti-Cancer Activity and Their Impact on Immunotherapy

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most aggressive and heterogeneous groups of human neoplasms. HNSCC is characterized by high morbidity, accounting for 3% of all cancers, and high mortality with ~1.5% of all cancer deaths. It was the most common cancer worldwide in 2020, according to the latest GLOBOCAN data, representing the seventh most prevalent human malignancy. Despite great advances in surgical techniques and the application of modern combinations and cytotoxic therapies, HNSCC remains a leading cause of death worldwide with a low overall survival rate not exceeding 40-60% of the patient population. The most common causes of death in patients are its frequent nodal metastases and local neoplastic recurrences, as well as the relatively low response to treatment and severe drug resistance. Much evidence suggests that the tumour microenvironment (TME), tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and circulating various subpopulations of immunocompetent cells, such regulatory T cells (CD4+CD25+Foxp3+Tregs), cytotoxic CD3+CD8+ T cells (CTLs) and CD3+CD4+ T helper type 1/2/9/17 (Th1/Th2/Th9/Th17) lymphocytes, T follicular helper cells (Tfh) and CD56dim/CD16bright activated natural killer cells (NK), carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), tumour-associated neutrophils (N1/N2 TANs), as well as tumour-associated macrophages (M1/M2 phenotype TAMs) can affect initiation, progression and spread of HNSCC and determine the response to immunotherapy. Rapid advances in the field of immuno-oncology and the constantly growing knowledge of the immunosuppressive mechanisms and effects of tumour cancer have allowed for the use of effective and personalized immunotherapy as a first-line therapeutic procedure or an essential component of a combination therapy for primary, relapsed and metastatic HNSCC. This review presents the latest reports and molecular studies regarding the anti-tumour role of selected subpopulations of immunocompetent cells in the pathogenesis of HNSCC, including HPV+ve (HPV+) and HPV-ve (HPV-) tumours. The article focuses on the crucial regulatory mechanisms of pro- and anti-tumour activity, key genetic or epigenetic changes that favour tumour immune escape, and the strategies that the tumour employs to avoid recognition by immunocompetent cells, as well as resistance mechanisms to T and NK cell-based immunotherapy in HNSCC. The present review also provides an overview of the pre- and clinical early trials (I/II phase) and phase-III clinical trials published in this arena, which highlight the unprecedented effectiveness and limitations of immunotherapy in HNSCC, and the emerging issues facing the field of HNSCC immuno-oncology.

Exploiting Autophagy-Dependent Neoantigen Presentation in Tumor Microenvironment

Autophagy constitutes a well-known homeostatic and catabolic process that is responsible for degradation and recycling of cellular components. It is a key regulatory mechanism for several cellular functions, whereas its dysregulation is associated with tumorigenesis, tumor-stroma interactions and resistance to cancer therapy. A growing body of evidence has proven that autophagy affects the tumor microenvironment, while it is also considered a key factor for function of several immune cells, such as APCs, T-cells, and macrophages. Moreover, it is implicated in presentation of neo-antigens of tumor cells in both MHC-I and MHC-II in dendritic cells (DCs) in functional activity of immune cells by creating T-cell memory, as well as in cross-presentation of neo-antigens for MHC-I presentation and the internalization process. Currently, autophagy has a crucial role in immunotherapy. Emergence of cancer immunotherapy has already shown some remarkable results, having changed therapeutic strategy in clinical practice for several cancer types. Despite these promising long-term responses, several patients seem to lack the ability to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Thus, autophagy through neo-antigen presentation is a potential target in order to strengthen or attenuate the effects of immunotherapy against different types of cancer. This review will shed light on the recent advances and future directions of autophagy-dependent neo-antigen presentation and consequently its role in immunotherapy for malignant tumors.

Tailored PGE2 Immunomodulation of moDCs by Nano-Encapsulated EP2/EP4 Antagonists

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is an important maturation mediator for dendritic cells (DCs). However, increased PGE2 levels in the tumor exert immunosuppressive effects on DCs by signaling through two E-Prostanoid (EP) receptors: EP2 and EP4. Blocking EP-receptor signaling of PGE2 with antagonists is currently being investigated for clinical applications to enhance anti-tumor immunity. In this study, we investigated a new delivery approach by encapsulating EP2/EP4 antagonists in polymeric nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were characterized for size, antagonist loading, and release. The efficacy of the encapsulated antagonists to block PGE2 signaling was analyzed using monocyte-derived DCs (moDCs). The obtained nanoparticles were sized between 210 and 260 nm. The encapsulation efficacy of the EP2/EP4 antagonists was 20% and 17%, respectively, and was further increased with the co-encapsulation of both antagonists. The treatment of moDCs with co-encapsulation EP2/EP4 antagonists prevented PGE2-induced co-stimulatory marker expression. Even though both antagonists showed a burst release within 15 min at 37 °C, the nanoparticles executed the immunomodulatory effects on moDCs. In summary, we demonstrate the functionality of EP2/EP4 antagonist-loaded nanoparticles to overcome PGE2 modulation of moDCs.

Inhibition of c-Rel expression in myeloid and lymphoid cells with distearoyl -phosphatidylserine (DSPS) liposomal nanoparticles encapsulating therapeutic siRNA

c-Rel, a member of the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) family, is preferentially expressed by immune cells and is known to regulate inflammation, autoimmune diseases and cancer. However, there is a lack of therapeutic intervention to specifically inhibit c-Rel in immune cells. Recent success with Pfizer and Moderna mRNA lipid-encapsulated vaccines as well as FDA approved medicines based on siRNA prompted us to test a lipid nanoparticle-based strategy to silence c-Rel in immune cells. Specifically, we encapsulated c-Rel-targeting siRNA into distearoyl-phosphatidylserine (DSPS)-containing nanoparticles. DSPS is a saturated phospholipid that serves as the "eat-me" signal for professional phagocytes such as macrophages and neutrophils of the immune system. We demonstrated here that incorporation of DSPS in liposome nanoparticles (LNP) improved their uptake by immune cells. LNP containing high concentrations of DSPS were highly effective to transfect not only macrophages and neutrophils, but also lymphocytes, with limited toxicity to cells. However, LNP containing low concentrations of DSPS were more effective to transfect myeloid cells than lymphoid cells. Importantly, DSPS-LNP loaded with a c-Rel siRNA were highly effective to inhibit c-Rel expression in several professional phagocytes tested, which lasted for several days. Taken together, our results suggest that DSPS-LNP armed with c-Rel siRNA could be exploited to target immune cells to limit the development of inflammatory diseases or cancer caused by c-Rel upregulation. In addition, this newly developed DSPS-LNP system may be further tested to encapsulate and deliver other small molecule drugs to immune cells, especially macrophages, neutrophils, and lymphocytes for the treatment of diseases.

Assessing the In Vivo Biocompatibility of Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Nanoparticles

Molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (nanoMIPs) are high affinity synthetic receptors which show promise as imaging and therapeutic agents. Comprehensive analysis of the in vivo behaviour of nanoMIPs must be performed before they can be considered for clinical applications. This work reports the solid-phase synthesis of nanoMIPs and an investigation of their biodistribution, clearance and cytotoxicity in a rat model following both intravenous and oral administration. These nanoMIPs were found in each harvested tissue type, including brain tissue, implying their ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. The nanoMIPs were cleared from the body via both faeces and urine. Furthermore, we describe an immunogenicity study in mice, demonstrating that nanoMIPs specific for a cell surface protein showed moderate adjuvant properties, whilst those imprinted for a scrambled peptide showed no such behaviour. Given their ability to access all tissue types and their relatively low cytotoxicity, these results pave the way for in vivo applications of nanoMIPs.

The role of T-cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: From immunity to immunotherapy

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) encompass a group of complex entities of tumours affecting the aerodigestive upper tract. The main risk factors are strongly related to tobacco and alcohol consumption, but also HPV infection is often associated. Surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy are the standard treatments, though the 5-year overall survival is less than 50%. The advances in genomics, molecular medicine, immunology, and nanotechnology have shed a light on tumour biology which helps clinical researchers to obtain more efficacious and less toxic therapies. Head and neck tumours possess different immune escape mechanisms including diminishing the immune response through modulating immune checkpoints, in addition to the recruitment and differentiation of suppressive immune cells. The insights into the HNSCC biology and its strong interaction with the tumour microenvironment highlights the role of immunomodulating agents. Recently, the knowledge of the immunological features of these tumours has paved the way for the discovery of effective biomarkers that allow a better selection of patients with odds of improving overall survival through immunotherapy. Specially biomarkers regarding immune checkpoint inhibitors antibodies, such as anti-PD-1/PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 in combination with standard therapy or as monotherapy. New immunotherapies to treat head and neck cancer carcinomas, such as CAR T cells and nanoparticles have been the center of attention and in this review, we discuss the necessity of finding targets for the T cell in the cancer cells to generate CAR T cells, but also the relevance of evaluating specificity and safety of those therapies.

Intraductal delivery of nanocarriers for ductal carcinoma in situ treatment: a strategy to enhance localized delivery

Ductal carcinoma in situ describes the most commonly occurring, noninvasive malignant breast disease, which could be the leading factor in invasive breast cancer. Despite remarkable advancements in treatment options, poor specificity, low bioavailability and dose-induced toxicity of chemotherapy are the main constraint. A unique characteristic of nanocarriers may overcome these problems. Moreover, the intraductal route of administration serves as an alternative approach. The direct nanodrug delivery into mammary ducts results in the accumulation of anticancer agents at targeted tissue for a prolonged period with high permeability, significantly decreasing the tumor size and improving the survival rate. This review focuses mainly on the intraductal delivery of nanocarriers in treating ductal carcinoma in situ, together with potential clinical translational research.

Effects of Carbon Nanomaterials and Aloe vera on Melanomas—Where Are We? Recent Updates

Melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer that affects approximately 140,000 people worldwide each year, with a high fatality rate. Available treatment modalities show limited efficacy in more severe cases. Hence, the search for new treatment modalities, including immunotherapies, for curing, mitigating, and/or preventing cancer is important and urgently needed. Carbon nanoparticles associated with some plant materials, such as Aloe vera, have shown appealing antineoplastic activity, derived mainly from the compounds aloin, aloe-emodin, barbaloin acemannan, and octapeptide, thus representing new possibilities as antitumor agents. This systematic review aims to arouse interest and present the possibilities of using Aloe vera combined with carbon-based nanomaterials as an antineoplastic agent in the treatment and prevention of melanoma. Limitations and advances in melanoma treatment using functionalized carbon nanomaterials are discussed here. Moreover, this review provides the basis for further studies designed to fully explore the potential of carbon nanomaterials associated with Aloe vera in the treatment of various cancers, with a focus on melanoma.

Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery Systems Targeting Tumor Microenvironment for Cancer Immunotherapy Resistance: Current Advances and Applications

Cancer immunotherapy has shown impressive anti-tumor activity in patients with advanced and early-stage malignant tumors, thus improving long-term survival. However, current cancer immunotherapy is limited by barriers such as low tumor specificity, poor response rate, and systemic toxicities, which result in the development of primary, adaptive, or acquired resistance. Immunotherapy resistance has complex mechanisms that depend on the interaction between tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME). Therefore, targeting TME has recently received attention as a feasibility strategy for re-sensitizing resistant neoplastic niches to existing cancer immunotherapy. With the development of nanotechnology, nanoplatforms possess outstanding features, including high loading capacity, tunable porosity, and specific targeting to the desired locus. Therefore, nanoplatforms can significantly improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy while reducing its toxic and side effects on non-target cells that receive intense attention in cancer immunotherapy. This review explores the mechanisms of tumor microenvironment reprogramming in immunotherapy resistance, including TAMs, CAFs, vasculature, and hypoxia. We also examined whether the application of nano-drugs combined with current regimens is improving immunotherapy clinical outcomes in solid tumors.

Poly lactic-co-glycolic acid-based nanoparticles as delivery systems for enhanced cancer immunotherapy

Cancer has emerged as one of the most severe diseases in modern times, various therapies have advanced remarkably in recent decades. Unlike the direct therapeutic targeting tumor cells, immunotherapy is a promising strategy that stimulate the immune system. In cancer immunotherapy, polymeric-based nanoparticles can serve as deliver systems for antigens and immunostimulatory molecules, and they have attracted increasing attention and revolutionized cancer therapy. Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is the most frequently used clinically approved biodegradable polymer and has a broad scope of modification of its inherent properties. Recent advances in PLGA based drug delivery systems in cancer immunotherapy have been described in this mini review, with special emphasis on cancer vaccines and tumor microenvironment modulation.

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.

Recent advances in porous nanomaterials-based drug delivery systems for cancer immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy is a novel therapeutic regimen because of the specificity and durability of immune modulations to treat cancers. Current cancer immunotherapy is limited by some barriers such as poor response rate, low tumor specificity and systemic toxicities. Porous nanomaterials (PNMs) possess high loading capacity and tunable porosity, receiving intense attention in cancer immunotherapy. Recently, novel PNMs based drug delivery systems have been employed in antitumor immunotherapy to enhance tissue or organ targeting and reduce immune-related adverse events. Herein, we summarize the recent progress of PNMs including inorganic, organic, and organic–inorganic hybrid ones for cancer immunotherapy. The design of PNMs and their performance in cancer immunotherapy are discussed in detail, with a focus on how those designs can address the challenges in current conventional immunotherapy. Lastly, we present future directions of PNMs for cancer immunotherapy including the challenges and research gaps, providing new insights about the design of PNMs for efficient cancer immunotherapy with better performance as powerful weapons against tumors. Finally, we discussed the relevant challenges that urgently need to be addressed in clinical practice, coupled with corresponding solutions to these problems.

Recent advances in overcoming barriers to cell-based delivery systems for cancer immunotherapy

Immunotherapy strategies that use cell-based delivery systems have sparked much interest in the treatment of malignancies, owing to their high biocompatibility, excellent tumor targeting capability, and unique biofunctionalities in the tumor growth process. A variety of design principles for cell-based immunotherapy, including cell surface decoration, cell membrane coating, cell encapsulation, genetically engineered cell, and cell-derived exosomes, give cancer immunotherapy great potential to improve therapeutic efficacy and reduce adverse effects. However, the treatment efficacy of cell-based delivery methods for immunotherapy is still limited, and practical uses are hampered due to complex physiological and immunological obstacles, such as physical barriers to immune infiltration, immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, upregulation of immunosuppressive pathways, and metabolic restriction. In this review, we present an overview of the design principles of cell-based delivery systems in cancer immunotherapy to maximize the therapeutic impact, along with anatomical, metabolic, and immunological impediments in using cell-based immunotherapy to treat cancer. Following that, a summary of novel delivery strategies that have been created to overcome these obstacles to cell-based immunotherapeutic delivery systems is provided. Also, the obstacles and prospects of next-step development of cell-based delivery systems for cancer immunotherapy are concluded in the end.

Melanin and Melanin-Functionalized Nanoparticles as Promising Tools in Cancer Research-A Review

Cancer poses an ongoing global challenge, despite the substantial progress made in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease. The existing therapeutic methods remain limited by undesirable outcomes such as systemic toxicity and lack of specificity or long-term efficacy, although innovative alternatives are being continuously investigated. By offering a means for the targeted delivery of therapeutics, nanotechnology (NT) has emerged as a state-of-the-art solution for augmenting the efficiency of currently available cancer therapies while combating their drawbacks. Melanin, a polymeric pigment of natural origin that is widely spread among many living organisms, became a promising candidate for NT-based cancer treatment owing to its unique physicochemical properties (e.g., high biocompatibility, redox behavior, light absorption, chelating ability) and innate antioxidant, photoprotective, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor effects. The latest research on melanin and melanin-like nanoparticles has extended considerably on many fronts, allowing not only efficient cancer treatments via both traditional and modern methods, but also early disease detection and diagnosis. The current paper provides an updated insight into the applicability of melanin in cancer therapy as antitumor agent, molecular target, and delivery nanoplatform.

Nanoparticles in Clinical Translation for Cancer Therapy

The advent of cancer therapeutics brought a paradigm shift from conventional therapy to precision medicine. The new therapeutic modalities accomplished through the properties of nanomaterials have extended their scope in cancer therapy beyond conventional drug delivery. Nanoparticles can be channeled in cancer therapy to encapsulate active pharmaceutical ingredients and deliver them to the tumor site in a more efficient manner. This review enumerates various types of nanoparticles that have entered clinical trials for cancer treatment. The obstacles in the journey of nanodrug from clinic to market are reviewed. Furthermore, the latest developments in using nanoparticles in cancer therapy are also highlighted.

Coronavirus and Carbon Nanotubes: Seeking Immunological Relationships to Discover Immunotherapeutic Possibilities

Since December 2019, the world has faced an unprecedented pandemic crisis due to a new coronavirus disease, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), which has instigated intensive studies on prevention and treatment possibilities. Here, we investigate the relationships between the immune activation induced by three coronaviruses associated with recent outbreaks, with special attention to SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, and the immune activation induced by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to understand the points of convergence in immune induction and modulation. Evidence suggests that CNTs are among the most promising materials for use as immunotherapeutic agents. Therefore, this investigation explores new possibilities of effective immunotherapies for COVID-19. This study aimed to raise interest and knowledge about the use of CNTs as immunotherapeutic agents in coronavirus treatment. Thus, we summarize the most important immunological aspects of various coronavirus infections and describe key advances and challenges in using CNTs as immunotherapeutic agents against viral infections and the activation of the immune response induced by CNTs, which can shed light on the immunotherapeutic possibilities of CNTs.

Surface glycan targeting for cancer nano-immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy is an emerging therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment. Most of the immunotherapeutics approved by the FDA regulate the innate immune system and associated immune cell activity, with immune check inhibitors in particular having transformed the field of cancer immunotherapy due to their significant clinical potential. However, previously reported immunotherapeutics have exhibited undesirable side effects, including autoimmune toxicity and inflammation. Controlling these deleterious responses and designing therapeutics that can precisely target specific regions are thus crucial to improving the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies. Recent studies have reported that cancer cells employ glycan-immune checkpoint interactions to modulate immune cell activity. Thus, the recognition of cancer glycan moieties such as sialoglycans may improve the anticancer activity of immune cells. In this review, we discuss recent advances in cancer immunotherapies involving glycans and glycan-targeting technologies based on nanomaterial-assisted local delivery systems.

Targeting innate immune system by nanoparticles for cancer immunotherapy

Various cancer therapies have advanced remarkably over the past decade. Unlike the direct therapeutic targeting of tumor cells, cancer immunotherapy is a new strategy that boosts the host's immune system...

Electrochemical Biosensing Interface Based on Carbon Dots-Fe3O4 Nanomaterial for the Determination of Escherichia coli O157:H7

Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 can cause many food safety incidents, which seriously affect human health and economic development. Therefore, the sensitive, accurate, and rapid determination of E. coli O157:H7 is of great significance for preventing the outbreak and spread of foodborne diseases. In this study, a carbon dots-Fe3O4 nanomaterial (CDs-Fe3O4)-based sensitive electrochemical biosensor for E. coli O157:H7 detection was developed. The CDs have good electrical conductivity, and the surface of carbon dots contains abundant carboxyl groups, which can be used to immobilize probe DNA. Meanwhile, the CDs can be used as a reducing agent to prepare CDs-Fe3O4 nanomaterial. The Fe3O4 nanomaterial can improve the performance of the electrochemical biosensor; it also can realize the recovery of CDs-Fe3O4 due to its magnetism. As expected, the electrochemical biosensor has excellent specificity of E. coli O157:H7 among other bacteria. The electrochemical biosensor also exhibited good performance for detecting E. coli O157:H7 with the detection range of 10-108 CFU/ml, and the detection limit of this electrochemical biosensor was 6.88 CFU/ml (3S/N). Furthermore, this electrochemical biosensor was successfully used for monitoring E. coli O157:H7 in milk and water samples, indicating that this electrochemical biosensor has good application prospect. More importantly, this research can provide a new idea for the detection of other bacteria and viruses.

Enhancing Cancer Immunotherapeutic Efficacy with Sonotheranostic Strategies

Immunotherapy has revolutionized the modality for establishing a firm immune response and immunological memory. However, intrinsic limitations of conventional low responsive poor T cell infiltration and immune related adverse effects urge the coupling of cancer nanomedicines with immunotherapy for boosting antitumor response under ultrasound (US) sensitization to mimic dose-limiting toxicities for safe and effective therapy against advanced cancer. US is composed of high-frequency sound waves that mediate targeted spatiotemporal control over release and internalization of the drug. The unconventional US triggered immunogenic nanoengineered arena assists the limited immunogenic dose, limiting toxicities and efficacies. In this Review, we discuss current prospects of enhanced immunotherapy using nanomedicine under US. We highlight how nanotechnology designs and incorporates nanomedicines for the reprogramming of systematic immunity in the tumor microenvironment. We also emphasize the mechanical and biological potential of US, encompassing sonosensitizer activation for enhanced immunotherapeutic efficacies. Finally, the smartly converging combinational platform of US stimulated cancer nanomedicines for amending immunotherapy is summarized. This Review will widen scientists' ability to explore and understand the limiting factors for combating cancer in a precisely customized way.

Antigen-Capturing Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Enhance the Radiation-Induced Abscopal Effect in Murine Hepatocellular Carcinoma Hepa1-6 Models

Immunomodulation by radiotherapy (RT) is an emerging strategy for improving cancer immunotherapy. Nanomaterials have been employed as innovative tools for cancer therapy. This study aimed to investigate whether mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) enhance RT-mediated local tumor control and the abscopal effect by stimulating anti-cancer immunity. Hepa1-6 murine hepatocellular carcinoma syngeneic models and immunophenotyping with flow cytometry were used to evaluate the immune responses. When mice harboring bilateral tumors received 8 Gy of X-rays on a single tumor, the direct injection of MSNs into irradiated tumors enhanced the growth inhibition of irradiated and unirradiated contralateral tumors. MSNs enhanced RT-induced tumor infiltration of cytotoxic T cells on both sides and suppressed RT-enhanced infiltration of regulatory T cells. The administration of MSNs pre-incubated with irradiated cell-conditioned medium enhanced the anti-tumor effect of anti-PD1 compared to the as-synthesized MSNs. Intracellular uptake of MSNs activated JAWS II dendritic cells (DCs), which were consistently observed in DCs in tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLNs). Our findings suggest that MSNs may capture tumor antigens released after RT, which is followed by DC maturation in TDLNs and infiltration of cytotoxic T cells in tumors, thereby leading to systemic tumor regression. Our results suggest that MSNs can be applied as an adjuvant for in situ cancer vaccines with RT.

Structural Alterations of Antigens at the Material Interface: An Early Decision Toolbox Facilitating Safe-by-Design Nanovaccine Development

Nanomaterials have found extensive interest in the development of novel vaccines, as adjuvants and/or carriers in vaccination platforms. Conjugation of protein antigens at the particle surface by non-covalent adsorption is the most widely used approach in licensed particulate vaccines. Hence, it is essential to understand proteins' structural integrity at the material interface in order to develop safe-by-design nanovaccines. In this study, we utilized two model proteins, the wild-type allergen Bet v 1 and its hypoallergenic fold variant (BM4), to compare SiO2 nanoparticles with Alhydrogel® as particulate systems. A set of biophysical and functional assays including circular dichroism spectroscopy and proteolytic degradation was used to examine the antigens' structural integrity at the material interface. Conjugation of both biomolecules to the particulate systems decreased their proteolytic stability. However, we observed qualitative and quantitative differences in antigen processing concomitant with differences in their fold stability. These changes further led to an alteration in IgE epitope recognition. Here, we propose a toolbox of biophysical and functional in vitro assays for the suitability assessment of nanomaterials in the early stages of vaccine development. These tools will aid in safe-by-design innovations and allow fine-tuning the properties of nanoparticle candidates to shape a specific immune response.

Black Phosphorus, an Emerging Versatile Nanoplatform for Cancer Immunotherapy

Black phosphorus (BP) is one of the emerging versatile nanomaterials with outstanding biocompatibility and biodegradability, exhibiting great potential as a promising inorganic nanomaterial in the biomedical field. BP nanomaterials possess excellent ability for valid bio-conjugation and molecular loading in anticancer therapy. Generally, BP nanomaterials can be classified into BP nanosheets (BPNSs) and BP quantum dots (BPQDs), both of which can be synthesized through various preparation routes. In addition, BP nanomaterials can be applied as photothermal agents (PTA) for the photothermal therapy (PTT) due to their high photothermal conversion efficiency and larger extinction coefficients. The generated local hyperpyrexia leads to thermal elimination of tumor. Besides, BP nanomaterials are capable of producing singlet oxygen, which enable its application as a photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy (PDT). Moreover, BP nanomaterials can be oxidized and degraded to nontoxic phosphonates and phosphate under physiological conditions, improving their safety as a nano drug carrier in cancer therapy. Recently, it has been reported that BP-based PTT is capable of activating immune responses and alleviating the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment by detection of T lymphocytes and various immunocytokines, indicating that BP-based nanocomposites not only serve as effective PTAs to ablate large solid tumors but also function as an immunomodulation agent to eliminate discrete tumorlets. Therefore, BP-mediated immunotherapy would provide more possibilities for synergistic cancer treatment.

SMOX expression predicts the prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer

Background

The development of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is very rapid, and the effect of its treatment is often closely related to the diagnosis time of the disease. Therefore, simple and convenient tumor biomarkers are helpful for the timely diagnosis and prevention of NSCLC.

Methods

Through univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, SMOX was determined as an independent prognostic factor of GSE42127, GSE41271, GSE68465, and TCGA datasets. Furthermore, western blot, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and immunohistochemical analysis were performed to confirm the predictive efficiency of SMOX expression in NSCLC.

Results

Patients were divided into high and low expression groups according to the median value of SMOX expression, and Kaplan-Meier curves of multiple datasets indicated that patients with low SMOX expression had a better survival rate. According to the analysis of immune infiltration, the immune microenvironment, and immune checkpoints, SMOX expression of the high and low groups showed differences in immunity in NSCLC. By comparing cancer and adjacent tissues using western blot analysis, RT-PCR and immunohistochemical analysis, we found that SMOX was highly expressed in tumor tissues and had low expression in adjacent tissues. Simultaneously, the Kaplan-Meier curve suggested that among the 155 NSCLC patients, those with low SMOX expression had better survival.

Conclusions

SMOX can be used as an effective predictive target for NSCLC.

Nanocarriers Used in Drug Delivery to Enhance Immune System in Cancer Therapy

Cancer, a group of diseases responsible for the second largest cause of global death, is considered one of the main public health problems today. Despite the advances, there are still difficulties in the development of more efficient cancer therapies and fewer adverse effects for the patients. In this context, nanobiotechnology, a materials science on a nanometric scale specified for biology, has been developing and acquiring prominence for the synthesis of nanocarriers that provide a wide surface area in relation to volume, better drug delivery, and a maximization of therapeutic efficiency. Among these carriers, the ones that stand out are those focused on the activation of the immune system. The literature demonstrates the importance of this system for anticancer therapy, given that the best treatment for this disease also activates the immune system to recognize, track, and destroy all remaining tumor cells.