Nanocarriers for cutting-edge cancer immunotherapies

Abstract

Cancer immunotherapy aims to harness the body's own immune system for effective and long-lasting elimination of malignant neoplastic tissues. Owing to the advance in understanding of cancer pathology and immunology, many novel strategies for enhancing immunological responses against various cancers have been successfully developed, and some have translated into excellent clinical outcomes. As one promising strategy for the next generation of immunotherapies, activating the multi-cellular network (MCN) within the tumor microenvironment (TME) to deploy multiple mechanisms of action (MOAs) has attracted significant attention. To achieve this effectively and safely, delivering multiple or pleiotropic therapeutic cargoes to the targeted sites of cancerous tissues, cells, and intracellular organelles is critical, for which numerous nanocarriers have been developed and leveraged. In this review, we first introduce therapeutic payloads categorized according to their predicted functions in cancer immunotherapy and their physicochemical structures and forms. Then, various nanocarriers, along with their unique characteristics, properties, advantages, and limitations, are introduced with notable recent applications in cancer immunotherapy. Following discussions on targeting strategies, a summary of each nanocarrier matching with suitable therapeutic cargoes is provided with comprehensive background information for designing cancer immunotherapy regimen