Abstract
The combination of cancer immunotherapy with efficient functionalized nanosystems has emerged as a beneficial treatment strategy and its use has increased rapidly. The roles of stimuli-responsive nanosystems and nanomedicine-based cancer immunotherapy, a subsidiary discipline in the field of immunology, are pivotal. The present era is witnessing rapid advancements in the use of nanomedicine as a platform for investigating novel therapeutic applications and modern intelligent healthcare management strategies. The development of cancer nanomedicine has posthaste ratified the outcomes of immunotherapy to the subsequent stage in the current era of medical research. This review focuses on key findings with respect to the effectiveness of nanomedicine-based cancer immunotherapies and their applications, which include i) immune checkpoint inhibitors and nanomedicine, ii) CRISPR-Cas nanoparticles (NPs) in cancer immunotherapy, iii) combination cancer immunotherapy with core-shell nanoparticles, iv) biomimetic NPs for cancer immunotherapy, and v) CAR-T cells and cancer nanoimmunotherapy. By evaluating the state-of-the-art tools and taking the challenges involved into consideration, various aspects of the proposed nano-enabled therapeutic approaches have been discussed in this review.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Schumacher T, Schreiber R. Neoantigens in cancer immunotherapy. Science 2015;348:69–74.
Hodi F, O’Day ST, McDermott DF, Weber RW, Sosman JA, Haanen JB, et al. Improved survival with ipilimumab in patients with metastatic melanoma. N Engl J Med 2010;363:711–23.
Waldman A, Fritz J, Lenardo M. A guide to cancer immunotherapy: from T cell basic science to clinical practice. Nat Rev Immunol 2020;20:1–18.
O’Donnell J, Teng M, Smyth M. Cancer immunoediting and resistance to T cell-based immunotherapy. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2018;16:151–67.
Riley R, June C, Langer R, Mitchell M. Delivery technologies for cancer immunotherapy. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2019;18:175–96.
Goldberg M. Improving cancer immunotherapy through nanotechnology. Nat Rev Cancer 2019;19:587–602.
Mi Y, Hagan C, Vincent B, Wang A. Emerging nano-/microapproaches for cancer immunotherapy. Adv Sci. 2019;6:1801847.
Cabrita R, Lauss M, Sanna A, Donia M, Skaarup LM, Mitra S, et al. Tertiary lymphoid structures improve immunotherapy and survival in melanoma. Nature 2020;577:561–5.
Lu J, Liu X, Liao YP, Salazar F, Sun B, Jiang W, et al. Nano-enabled pancreas cancer immunotherapy using immunogenic cell death and reversing immunosuppression. Nat. Commun. 2017;8:1–14.
Wang C, Wang J, Zhang X, Yu S, Wen D, Hu Q, et al. In situ formed reactive oxygen species–responsive scaffold with gemcitabine and checkpoint inhibitor for combination therapy. Sci Transl Med 2018;10:eaan3682.
Min Y, Roche KC, Tian S, Eblan MJ, McKinnon KP, Caster JM, et al. Antigen-capturing nanoparticles improve the abscopal effect and cancer immunotherapy. Nat Nanotechnol 2017;12:877–82.
Gurbatri C, Lia I, Vincent R, Coker C, Castro S, Treuting PM, et al. Engineered probiotics for local tumor delivery of checkpoint blockade nanobodies. Sci Transl Med. 2020;12:eaax0876.
Wang D, Wang T, Yu H, Feng B, Zhou L, Zhou F, et al. Engineering nanoparticles to locally activate T cells in the tumor microenvironment. Sci Immunol. 2019;4:eaau6584.
Galstyan A, Markman JL, Shatalova ES, Chiechi A, Korman AJ, Patil R, et al. Blood–brain barrier permeable nano immunoconjugates induce local immune responses for glioma therapy. Nat Commun 2019;10:3850.
Phuengkham H, Song C, Lim Y. A designer scaffold with immune nanoconverters for reverting immunosuppression and enhancing immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Adv Mater 2019;31:1903242.
Duan X, Chan C, Han W, Guo N, Weichselbaum RR, Lin W. Immunostimulatory nanomedicines synergize with checkpoint blockade immunotherapy to eradicate colorectal tumors. Nat Commun 2019;10:1899.
Wilson DR, Sen R, Sunshine JC, Pardoll DM, Green JJ, Kim YJ. Biodegradable STING agonist nanoparticles for enhanced cancer immunotherapy. Nanomedicine 2018;14:237–46.
Mi Y, Smith CC, Yang F, Qi Y, Roche KC, Serody JS, et al. A dual immunotherapy nanoparticle improves T-cell activation and cancer immunotherapy. Adv Mater 2018;30:e1706098.
Lu K, He C, Guo N, Chan C, Ni K, Lan G, et al. Low-dose X-ray radiotherapy–radiodynamic therapy via nanoscale metal–organic frameworks enhances checkpoint blockade immunotherapy. Nat Biomed Eng 2018;2:600–10.
Zhang YX, Zhao YY, Shen J, Sun X, Liu Y, Liu H, et al. Nanoenabled modulation of acidic tumor microenvironment reverses anergy of infiltrating T cells and potentiates anti-PD-1 therapy. Nano Lett 2019;19:2774–83.
Deng H, Zhang Z. The application of nanotechnology in immune checkpoint blockade for cancer treatment. J Control. Release 2018;290:28–45.
Eyquem J, Mansilla-Soto J, Giavridis T, van der Stegen SJ, Hamieh M, Cunanan KM, et al. Targeting a CAR to the TRAC locus with CRISPR/Cas9 enhances tumour rejection. Nature 2017;543:113–7.
Su S, Hu B, Shao J, Shen B, Du J, Du Y, et al. CRISPR-Cas9 mediated efficient PD-1 disruption on human primary T cells from cancer patients. Sci Rep. 2016;6:20070.
Schumann K, Lin S, Boyer E, Simeonov DR, Subramaniam M, Gate RE, et al. Generation of knock-in primary human T cells using Cas9 ribonucleoproteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2015;112:10437 LP–10442.
Ren J, Liu X, Fang C, Jiang S, June CH, Zhao Y. Multiplex genome editing to generate universal CAR T cells resistant to PD1 inhibition. Clin Cancer Res 2017;23:2255 LP–2266.
Manguso RT, Pope HW, Zimmer MD, Brown FD, Yates KB, Miller BC, et al. In vivo CRISPR screening identifies Ptpn2 as a cancer immunotherapy target. Nature 2017;547:413–8.
Matano M, Date S, Shimokawa M, Takano A, Fujii M, Ohta Y, et al. Modeling colorectal cancer using CRISPR-Cas9–mediated engineering of human intestinal organoids. Nat Med 2015;21:256–62.
Y, Xue J, Deng T, Zhou X, Yu K, Huang M, et al. A phase I trial of PD-1 deficient engineered T cells with CRISPR/Cas9 in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol 2018;36:3050.
Yin H, Kauffman KJ, Anderson DG. Delivery technologies for genome editing. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2017;16:387–99.
Liu C, Zhang L, Liu H, Cheng K. Delivery strategies of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system for therapeutic applications. J Control Release 2017;266:17–26.
Swiech L, Heidenreich M, Banerjee A, Habib N, Li Y, Trombetta J, et al. In vivo interrogation of gene function in the mammalian brain using CRISPR-Cas9. Nat Biotechnol 2015;33:102–6.
Ran FA, Cong L, Yan WX, Scott DA, Gootenberg JS, Kriz AJ, et al. In vivo genome editing using Staphylococcus aureus Cas9. Nature 2015;520:186–91.
Mout R, Ray M, Lee YW, Scaletti F, Rotello VM. In vivo delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 for therapeutic gene editing: progress and challenges. Bioconjug Chem 2017;28:880–4.
Cox DB, Platt RJ, Zhang F. Therapeutic genome editing: prospects and challenges. Nat Med 2015;21:121–31.
Luo YL, Xu CF, Li HJ, Cao ZT, Liu J, Wang JL, et al. Macrophage-specific in vivo gene editing using cationic lipid-assisted polymeric nanoparticles. ACS Nano. 2018;12:994–1005.
Tu K, Deng H, Kong L, Wang Y, Yang T, Hu Q, et al. Reshaping tumor immune microenvironment through acidity-responsive nanoparticles featured with CRISPR/Cas9-mediated programmed death-ligand 1 attenuation and chemotherapeutics-induced immunogenic cell death. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2020;12:16018–30.
Cheng WJ, Chen LC, Ho HO, Lin HL, Sheu MT. Stearyl polyethylenimine complexed with plasmids as the core of human serum albumin nanoparticles noncovalently bound to CRISPR/Cas9 plasmids or siRNA for disrupting or silencing PD-L1 expression for immunotherapy. Int J Nanomed 2018;13:7079–94.
Ray M, Lee YW, Hardie J, Mout R, Yeşilbag Tonga G. CRISPRed macrophages for cell-based cancer immunotherapy. Bioconjug Chem 2018;29:445–50.
Leonard F, Curtis LT, Hamed AR, Zhang C, Chau E, Sieving D, et al. Nonlinear response to cancer nanotherapy due to macrophage interactions revealed by mathematical modeling and evaluated in a murine model via CRISPR-modulated macrophage polarization. Cancer Immunol Immunother 2020;69:731–44.
Dudek AM, Garg AD, Krysko DV, De Ruysscher D, Agostinis P. Inducers of immunogenic cancer cell death. Cytokine Growth Factor Rev 2013;24:319–33.
Shao F, Zang M, Xu L, Yin D, Li M, Q J, et al. Multiboosting of cancer immunotherapy by a core–shell delivery System. Mol Pharm 2020;17:338–48.
He C, et al. Core-shell nanoscale coordination polymers combine chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy to potentiate checkpoint blockade cancer immunotherapy. Nat Commun 2016;7:12499.
He C, Duan X, Guo N, Chan C, Poon C, Weichselbaum RR, et al. Photodynamic therapy mediated by nontoxic core–shell nanoparticles synergizes with immune checkpoint blockade to elicit antitumor immunity and antimetastatic effect on breast cancer. J Am Chem Soc 2016;138:16686–95.
Cho NH, Cheong TC, Min JH, Wu JH, Lee SJ, Kim D, et al. A multifunctional core–shell nanoparticle for dendritic cell-based cancer immunotherapy. Nat Nanotechnol 2011;6:675–82.
Ni J, Song J, Wang B, Hua H, Zhu H, Guo X, et al. Dendritic cell vaccine for the effective immunotherapy of breast cancer. Biomed Pharmacother 2020;126:110046.
Yan S, Zeng X, Tang Y, Liu BF, Wang Y, Liu X. Activating Antitumor immunity and antimetastatic effect through polydopamine-encapsulated core–shell upconversion nanoparticles. Adv Mater 2019;31:1905825.
Huang KW, Hsu FF, Qiu JT, Chern GJ, Lee YA, Chang CC, et al. Highly efficient and tumor-selective nanoparticles for dual-targeted immunogene therapy against cancer. Sci Adv 2020;6:eaax5032.
Jin J, Krishnamachary B, Barnett JD, Chatterjee S, Chang D, Mironchik Y, et al. Human cancer cell membrane-coated biomimetic nanoparticles reduce fibroblast-mediated invasion and metastasis and induce T-cells. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019;11:7850–61.
Zhao P, Wang M, Chen M, Chen Z, Peng X, Zhou F, et al. Programming cell pyroptosis with biomimetic nanoparticles for solid tumor immunotherapy. Biomaterials 2020;254:120142.
Yu W, He X, Yang Z, Yang X, Xiao W, Liu R, et al. Sequentially responsive biomimetic nanoparticles with optimal size in combination with checkpoint blockade for cascade synergetic treatment of breast cancer and lung metastasis. Biomaterials 2019;217:119309.
Mohanty R, Chowdhury CR, Arega S, Sen P, Ganguly P, Ganguly N. CAR T cell therapy: a new era for cancer treatment. Oncol Rep. 2019;42:2183–3195.
Abdalla A, Xiao L, Miao Y, Huang L, Fadlallah GM, Gauthier M, et al. Nanotechnology promotes genetic and functional modifications of therapeutic T cells against cancer. Adv Sci. 2020;7:1903164.
Rafiq S, Yeku OO, Jackson HJ, Purdon TJ, van Leeuwen DG, Drakes DJ, et al. Targeted delivery of a PD-1-blocking scFv by CAR-T cells enhances anti-tumor efficacy in vivo. Nat Biotechnol. 2018;36:847–56.
Tang L, Zheng Y, Melo MB, Mabardi L, Castaño AP, Xie YQ, et al. Enhancing T cell therapy through TCR-signaling-responsive nanoparticle drug delivery. Nat Biotechnol. 2018;36:707–16.
Zhang F, Stephan SB, Ene CI, Smith TT, Holland EC, Stephan MT. Nanoparticles that reshape the tumor milieu create a therapeutic window for effective T cell therapy in solid malignancies. Cancer Res 2018;78:3718–30.
Siriwon N, Kim YJ, Siegler E, Chen X, Rohrs JA, Liu Y, et al. CAR-T cells surface-engineered with drug-encapsulated nanoparticles can ameliorate intratumoral T-cell hypofunction. Cancer Immunol Res. 2018;6:812–24.
Bai C, Gao S, Hu S, Liu X, Li H, Dong J, et al. Self-assembled multivalent aptamer nanoparticles with potential CAR-like characteristics could activate T cells and inhibit melanoma growth. Mol Ther. 2020;17:9–20.
Yu Q, Zhang M, Chen Y, Chen X, Shi S, Sun K, et al. Self Assembled nanoparticles prepared from low-molecular-weight PEI and low-generation PAMAM for EGFRvIII-chimeric antigen receptor gene loading and T-cell transient modification. Int J Nanomed 2020;15:483–95.
Wu X, Li Y, Huang B, Ma X, Zhu L, Zheng N, et al. Nanotechnology and immunoengineering: how nanotechnology can boost CAR-T therapy. Acta Biomaterialia 2020;109:21–36.
Korangath P, Barnett JD, Sharma A, Henderson ET, Stewart J, Yu SH, et al. Nanoparticle interactions with immune cells dominate tumor retention and induce T cell-mediated tumor suppression in models of breast cancer. Sci Adv 2020;25:eaay1601. 6
Liu X, Feng Z, Wang C, Su Q, Song H, Zhang C, et al. Co-localized delivery of nanomedicine and nanovaccine augments the postoperative cancer immunotherapy by amplifying T-cell responses. Biomaterials 2020;230:119649.
Rafiq S, Hackett CS, Brentjens RJ. Engineering strategies to overcome the current roadblocks in CAR T cell therapy. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2020;17:147–67.
Tomitaka A, Kaushik A, Kevadiya BD, Mukadam I, Gendelman HE, Khalili K, et al. Surface-engineered multimodal magnetic nanoparticles to manage CNS diseases. Drug Discov Today 2019;24:873–82.
Vellampatti S, Chandrasekaran G, Mitta SB, Dugasani SR, Lakshmanan VK, Park SH. Bacterial resistance and prostate cancer susceptibility toward metal-ion-doped DNA complexes. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2018;26:44290–44300. 10
Vellampatti S, Chandrasekaran G, Mitta SB, Lakshmanan VK, Park SH. Metallo-Curcumin-conjugated DNA complexes induces preferential prostate cancer cells cytotoxicity and pause growth of bacterial cells. Sci Rep. 2018;8:14929.
Kuai R, Yuan W, Son S, Nam J, Xu Y, Fan Y, et al. Elimination of established tumors with nanodisc-based combination chemoimmunotherapy. Sci Adv 2018;4:eaao1736.
Fan Y, Kuai R, Xu Y, Ochyl LJ, Irvine DJ, Moon JJ. Immunogenic cell death amplified by co-localized adjuvant delivery for cancer immunotherapy. Nano Lett 2017;17:7387–93.
Lan G, Ni K, Xu Z, Veroneau SS, Song Y, Lin W. Nanoscale metal–organic framework overcomes hypoxia for photodynamic therapy primed cancer immunotherapy. J Am Chem Soc 2018;140:5670–3.
Dai L, Li K, Li M, Zhao X, Luo Z, Lu L, et al. Size/charge Changeable acidity-responsive micelleplex for photodynamic-improved PD-L1 immunotherapy with enhanced tumor penetration. Adv Funct Mater 2018;8:1707249.
Liu Y, Maccarini P, Palmer GM, Etienne W, Zhao Y, Lee CT, et al. Synergistic immuno photothermal nanotherapy (SYMPHONY) for the treatment of unresectable and metastatic cancers. Sci Rep. 2017;7:8606.
Li SY, Liu Y, Xu CF, Shen S, Sun R, Du XJ, et al. Restoring anti-tumor functions of T cells via nanoparticle-mediated immune checkpoint modulation. J Control Release 2016;231:17–28.
Leuschner F, Dutta P, Gorbatov R, Novobrantseva TI, Donahoe JS, Courties G, et al. Therapeutic siRNA silencing in inflammatory monocytes in mice. Nat Biotechnol 2011;29:1005–10.
Akita H, Kogure K, Moriguchi R, Nakamura Y, Higashi T, Nakamura T, et al. Nanoparticles for ex vivo siRNA delivery to dendritic cells for cancer vaccines: programmed endosomal escape and dissociation. J Control Release 2010;143:311–7.
Warashina S, Nakamura T, Harashima H. A20 silencing by lipid envelope-type nanoparticles enhances the efficiency of lipopolysaccharide-activated dendritic cells. Biol Pharm Bull 2011;34:1348–51.
Conde J, Bao C, Tan Y, Cui D, Edelman ER, Azevedo HS, et al. Dual targeted immunotherapy via in vivo delivery of biohybrid RNAi-peptide nanoparticles to tumour-associated macrophages and cancer cells. Adv Funct Mater 2015;25:4183–94.
Alshamsan A, Hamdy S, Haddadi A, Samuel J, El-Kadi AO, Uludağ H, et al. STAT3 Knockdown in B16 melanoma by siRNA lipopolyplexes induces bystander immune response in vitro and in vivo. Transl Oncol 2011;4:178–88.
Wang Y, Xu Z, Guo S, Zhang L, Sharma A, Robertson GP, et al. Intravenous delivery of siRNA targeting CD47 effectively inhibits melanoma tumor growth and lung metastasis. Mol Ther 2013;21:1919–29.
Heo MB, Lim YT. Programmed nanoparticles for combined immunomodulation, antigen presentation and tracking of immunotherapeutic cells. Biomaterials 2014;35:590–600.
Jadidi-Niaragh F, Atyabi F, Rastegari A, Kheshtchin N, Arab S, Hassannia H, et al. CD73 specific siRNA loaded chitosan lactate nanoparticles potentiate the antitumor effect of a dendritic cell vaccine in 4T1 breast cancer bearing mice. J Control Release 2017;246:46–59.
Wu Y, Gu W, Li L, Chen C, Xu ZP. Enhancing PD-1 gene silence in T lymphocytes by comparing the delivery performance of two inorganic nanoparticle platforms. Nanomaterials 2019;9:159.
Heo MB, Cho MY, Lim YT. Polymer nanoparticles for enhanced immune response: combined delivery of tumor antigen and small interference RNA for immunosuppressive gene to dendritic cells. Acta Biomater 2014;10:2169–76.
Acknowledgements
VKL and SC are thankful to the Thumbay Research Institute for Precision Medicine (TRIPM) for providing infrastructural facilities. SJ is thankful to the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, for awarding the fellowship. GP acknowledges the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (BT/PR 25095/NER/95/1011/2017) and Shastri Institutional Collaborative Research Grant (SICRG) 2020–21.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lakshmanan, VK., Jindal, S., Packirisamy, G. et al. Nanomedicine-based cancer immunotherapy: recent trends and future perspectives. Cancer Gene Ther 28, 911–923 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-021-00299-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-021-00299-4
This article is cited by
-
Mesoporous silica nanotechnology: promising advances in augmenting cancer theranostics
Cancer Nanotechnology (2024)
-
Comprehensive review of CRISPR-based gene editing: mechanisms, challenges, and applications in cancer therapy
Molecular Cancer (2024)
-
High-throughput cell optoporation system based on Au nanoparticle layers mediated by resonant irradiation for precise and controllable gene delivery
Scientific Reports (2024)
-
Nanomaterials in tumor immunotherapy: new strategies and challenges
Molecular Cancer (2023)
-
Recent advancement of nanomedicine-based targeted delivery for cervical cancer treatment
Medical Oncology (2023)