Gold nanoparticle mediated cancer immunotherapy

Abstract

Significant progress has been made in the field of cancer immunotherapy, where the goal is to activate or modulate the body's immune response against cancer. However, current immunotherapy approaches exhibit limitations of safety and efficacy due to systemic delivery. In this context, the use of nanotechnology for the delivery of cancer vaccines and immune adjuvants presents a number of advantages such as targeted delivery to immune cells, enhanced therapeutic effect, and reduced adverse outcomes. Recently, gold nanoparticles (AuNP) have been explored as immunotherapy carriers, creating new AuNP applications that merit a critical overview. This review highlights recent advances in the development of AuNP mediated immunotherapies that harness AuNP biodistribution, optical properties and their ability to deliver macromolecules such as peptides and oligonucleotides. It has been demonstrated that the use of AuNP carriers can improve the delivery and safety of immunotherapy agents, and that AuNP immunotherapies are well suited for synergistic combination therapy with existing cancer therapies like photothermal ablation.

From the clinical editor: Cancer immunotherapy approaches are rapidly evolving and are some of the most promising avenues to approach malignancies. This review summarizes the role of gold nanoparticles in immunotherapy agent delivery, and in the development of synergistic therapies such as photothermal ablation.

Keywords: Biodistribution; Cancer; Gold nanoparticles; Immune system; Immunotherapy.

Figure 1

Applications of gold nanoparticles in cancer immunotherapy.

Figure 2

AuNPs enhance antibody production in vivo when compared to antigen delivery alone. Spherical, 40 nm AuNPs were the most effective design. Reproduced with permission from Niikura et al.

Figure 3

Hollow gold nanoshells can be irradiated with NIR light to cause particle collapse and release of conjugated siRNA. Reproduced with permission from Lu et al.

Figure 4

AuNPs facilitate transcutaneous delivery of protein antigen. Reproduced with permission from Huang et al.

Figure 5

AuNPs coated to deliver protein antigen and CpG oligonucleotide adjuvant. Reproduced with permission from Lee et al.