Nanobiotechnology and Immunotherapy: Two Powerful and Cooperative Allies against Cancer

Self-assembled nanoparticles: A new platform for revolutionizing therapeutic cancer vaccines

Cancer vaccines have had some success in the past decade. Based on in-depth analysis of tumor antigen genomics, many therapeutic vaccines have already entered clinical trials for multiple cancers, including melanoma, lung cancer, and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, which have demonstrated impressive tumor immunogenicity and antitumor activity. Recently, vaccines based on self-assembled nanoparticles are being actively developed as cancer treatment, and their feasibility has been confirmed in both mice and humans. In this review, we summarize recent therapeutic cancer vaccines based on self-assembled nanoparticles. We describe the basic ingredients for self-assembled nanoparticles, and how they enhance vaccine immunogenicity. We also discuss the novel design method for self-assembled nanoparticles that pose as a promising delivery platform for cancer vaccines, and the potential in combination with multiple therapeutic approaches.

RBM10 Is a Biomarker Associated with Pan-Cancer Prognosis and Immune Infiltration: System Analysis Combined with In Vitro and Vivo Experiments

RNA binding motif protein 10 (RBM10) is a splicing factor that has been reported to be involved in the occurrence and progression of multiple malignancies. However, the RBM10 involvement in pan-cancer immunotherapy is not clear. In here, we provide the first comprehensive assessment of the prognostic value and immunological function of RBM10 in human pan-cancer utilizing multiple public databases. Data reveal the aberrant RBM10 expression in most tumors, and its expression is positively or negatively linked with the clinical prognosis of various cancers, depending on the different types and subtypes of cancers. In most tumors, RBM10 mutations are frequently occurred, which is closely related to tumor progression. Moreover, our results also show that RBM10 is considerably linked with most of the immune checkpoint genes, tumor immune cell infiltration, tumor mutation burden, and microsatellite instability. Additionally, RBM10 is significantly positively correlated with the sensitivity of trametinib, 17-AAG, PD-0325901, RDEA119, cetuximab, and afatinib, indicating potential antagonism between RBM10 inhibitors and these antitumor drugs, and more likely to develop drug resistance. We also verify that downregulation of RBM10 enhances the malignant phenotype of lung adenocarcinoma cells using in vitro cell experiments, and in vivo animal experiments show that the overexpression of RBM10 reduces the growth of tumors. Furthermore, upregulating RBM10 greatly reduces the PD-L1 protein levels, while silencing RBM10 considerably enhances PD-L1 protein levels. Moreover, the overexpression of RBM10 decreases the protein stability of PD-L1. To sum up, our pan-cancer analysis indicates that RBM10 is a promising biomarker for prognosis and immunotherapy, which provides a new insight for cancer immunotherapy.

Circular RNAs Involve in Immunity of Digestive Cancers From Bench to Bedside: A Review

The immune system plays a complex role in tumor formation and development. On the one hand, immune surveillance can inhibit the growth of tumors; on the other hand, immune evasion of tumors can create conditions conducive for tumor development and growth. CircRNAs are endogenous non-coding RNAs with a covalently closed loop structure that are abundantly expressed in eukaryotic organisms. They are characterized by stable structure, rich diversity, and high evolutionary conservation. In particular, circRNAs play a vital role in the occurrence, development, and treatment of tumors through their unique functions. Recently, the incidence and mortality of digestive cancers, especially those of gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, and liver cancer, have remained high. However, the functions of circRNAs in digestive cancers immunity are less known. The relationship between circRNAs and digestive tumor immunity is systematically discussed in our paper for the first time. CircRNA can influence the immune microenvironment of gastrointestinal tumors to promote their occurrence and development by acting as a miRNA molecular sponge, interacting with proteins, and regulating selective splicing. The circRNA vaccine even provides a new idea for tumor immunotherapy. Future studies should be focused on the location, transportation, and degradation mechanisms of circRNA in living cells and the relationship between circRNA and tumor immunity. This paper provides a new idea for the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal tumors.

P4HA1, a Prognostic Biomarker that Correlates With Immune Infiltrates in Lung Adenocarcinoma and Pan-Cancer

Objective: Prolyl 4-hydroxylase, alpha polypeptide I (P4HA1), a key enzyme in collagen synthesis, comprises two identical alpha subunits and two beta subunits. However, the immunomodulatory role of P4HA1 in tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of P4HA1 in pan-cancer and explore the relationship between P4HA1 expression and TIME.

Methods: P4HA1 expression, clinical features, mutations, DNA methylation, copy number alteration, and prognostic value in pan-cancer were investigated using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression data. Pathway enrichment analysis of P4HA1 was performed using R package “clusterProfiler.” The correlation between immune cell infiltration level and P4HA1 expression was analyzed using three sources of immune cell infiltration data, including ImmuCellAI database, TIMER2 database, and a published work.

Results: P4HA1 was substantially overexpressed in most cancer types. P4HA1 overexpression was associated with poor survival in patients. Additionally, we discovered that P4HA1 expression was positively associated with infiltration levels of immunosuppressive cells, such as tumor-associated macrophages, cancer-associated fibroblasts, nTregs, and iTregs, and negatively correlated with CD8⁺ T and NK cells in pan-cancer.

Conclusions: Our results highlighted that P4HA1 might serve as a potential prognostic biomarker in pan-cancer. P4HA1 overexpression is indicative of an immunosuppressive microenvironment. P4HA1 may be a potential target of immunotherapy.

Protein-Based Nanoparticles for the Imaging and Treatment of Solid Tumors: The Case of Ferritin Nanocages, a Narrative Review

Protein nanocages have been studied extensively, due to their unique architecture, exceptional biocompatibility and highly customization capabilities. In particular, ferritin nanocages (FNs) have been employed for the delivery of a vast array of molecules, ranging from chemotherapeutics to imaging agents, among others. One of the main favorable characteristics of FNs is their intrinsic targeting efficiency toward the Transferrin Receptor 1, which is overexpressed in many tumors. Furthermore, genetic manipulation can be employed to introduce novel variants that are able to improve the loading capacity, targeting capabilities and bio-availability of this versatile drug delivery system. In this review, we discuss the main characteristics of FN and the most recent applications of this promising nanotechnology in the field of oncology with a particular emphasis on the imaging and treatment of solid tumors.