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Review
. 2020 Dec 21:11:601497.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.601497. eCollection 2020.

Anti-Cancer Nanomedicines: A Revolution of Tumor Immunotherapy

Wei Li  1 , Anghui Peng  2 , Huajun Wu  1 , Yingyao Quan  2   3 , Yong Li  2 , Ligong Lu  2 , Min Cui  1
Affiliations
Review

Anti-Cancer Nanomedicines: A Revolution of Tumor Immunotherapy

Wei Li et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Immunotherapies have been accelerating the development of anti-cancer clinical treatment, but its low objective responses and severe off-target immune-related adverse events (irAEs) limit the range of application. Strategies to remove these obstacles primarily focus on the combination of different therapies and the exploitation of new immunotherapeutic agents. Nanomedicine potentiates the effects of activating immune cells selectively and reversing tumor induced immune deficiency microenvironment through multiple mechanisms. In the last decade, a variety of nano-enabled tumor immunotherapies was under clinical investigation. As time goes by, the advantages of nanomedicine are increasingly prominent. With the continuous development of nanotechnology, nanomedicine will offer more distinctive perspectives in imaging diagnosis and treatment of tumors. In this Review, we wish to provide an overview of tumor immunotherapy and the mechanisms of nanomaterials that aim to enhance the efficacy of tumor immunotherapy under development or in clinic treatment.

Keywords: immunotherapy; nanomedicine; nanotherapy; review; tumor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Enhanced retention of nanoparticles. Compared to small-molecule drugs, nanoparticles appear to be gradually enriched in tumors and maintained for a longer period of time.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Strategies of nanoparticles to increase tissue oxygen content. Oxygen carriers wrap O2 in vitro, or bind O2 in high oxygen areas in vivo and release them in low oxygen environment. Nanoparticles with catalytic effects react with excessive endogenous H2O2 in the TME to generate oxygen.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Immunotherapy induced by photothermal therapy. Photothermal therapy increases the tissue immunogenic cell death and release antigens, which are presented to T cells by DCs and macrophages, enhance the recognition and killing to tumor cells.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Nanomaterials activate and expand adoptive T cells. Nano-modified CAR-T cells increase the expression of CAR antigens and improve the recognition of tumor cells.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mechanism of nanoparticles in immunotherapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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