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Review
. 2024 Jan;14(1):170-189.
doi: 10.1016/j.apsb.2023.07.025. Epub 2023 Jul 29.

Advanced nano-based strategies for mRNA tumor vaccine

Yangqi Qu  1 , Jingjing Xu  1 , Tong Zhang  1 , Qinjun Chen  1 , Tao Sun  1 , Chen Jiang  1
Affiliations
Review

Advanced nano-based strategies for mRNA tumor vaccine

Yangqi Qu et al. Acta Pharm Sin B. 2024 Jan.

Abstract

Tumor vaccine is a promising strategy for cancer immunotherapy by introducing tumor antigens into the body to activate specific anti-tumor immune responses. Along with the technological breakthroughs in genetic engineering and delivery systems, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology has achieved unprecedented development and application over the last few years, especially the emergency use authorizations of two mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has saved countless lives and makes the world witness the powerful efficacy of mRNA technology in vaccines. However, unlike infectious disease vaccines, which mainly induce humoral immunity, tumor vaccines also need to activate potent cellular immunity to control tumor growth, which creates a higher demand for mRNA delivery to the lymphatic organs and antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Here we review the existing bottlenecks of mRNA tumor vaccines and advanced nano-based strategies to overcome those challenges, as well as future considerations of mRNA tumor vaccines and their delivery systems.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
Mechanism of mRNA vaccine in vivo and improved engineering strategies to enhance the properties of vaccine based on NPs. Created with Biorender.com.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A schematic illustration and characterizations of transformable hydrogel. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 43. Copyright © 2021 American Chemical Society.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic illustration of SORT. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 54. Copyright © 2020 Nature Publishing Group.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The mechanism of GALA modified mRNA polyplexes (PPx-GALA). Reprinted with permission from Ref. 72. Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The mechanism of introducing protamine into cationic liposome DOTAP to prepare liposome-protamine lipid complex (CLPP). Reprinted with permission from Ref. 75. Copyright © 2019 Dove Medical Press Ltd.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The preparation of the LPC/mRNA composite. mRNA was condensed by protamine and then delivered with cationic liposome. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 85. Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Representative structures of nano-based vectors to enhance the efficacy of mRNA tumor vaccines. Here listed targeting ligand include triMN, imidazole group, and phosphpserine; phospholipids include iPhos, DOPE, stearic acid, 14 PA, 18BMP; ionizable lipids include CL4F m-n, charge-altering releasable transporters (CARTs), 113-O12B, 4N4T with piperazine & amides, 4N4T with acylpiperazine, 4N4T with piperazine, Pi-lipids, and PEAE; cholesterol include β-sitosterol with C-24 alkyl derivatives DP7-C; PEG alternatives include polySarcosine; the others include hyaluronan, LCP, MSNP. Some structures are created with BioRender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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