Nanobiotechnology and Immunotherapy: Two Powerful and Cooperative Allies against Cancer

• Main Authors: Francesco Mainini, Francesca De Santis, Giovanni Fucà, Massimo Di Nicola, Licia Rivoltini, Michael Eccles
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Cancers
• Subjects: nanoparticles; nanomedicine; immunotherapy; adoptive cell therapy; nanovaccines; immunomodulation
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/15/3765

A number of novel cancer therapies have recently emerged that have rapidly moved from the bench to the clinic. Onco-immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint blockade inhibitors and adoptive cell therapies, have revolutionized the field, since they provide a way to induce strong anti-tumor immune responses, which are able to fight cancer effectively. However, despite showing great efficacy in hematological and some solid tumors, unresponsiveness, development of therapy resistance and the development of serious adverse effects, limit their capacity to impact the vast majority of tumors. Nanoparticle-based delivery systems are versatile vehicles for a wide variety of molecular cargoes and provide an innovative strategy to improve conventional onco-immunotherapies. They can be finely tuned to release their contents in the tumor microenvironment, or to deliver combinations of adjuvants and antigens in the case of nanovaccines. In this review, we summarize the recent advancements in the field of nanobiotechnology, to remodel the tumor microenvironment and to enhance immunotherapies.