Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Aug 22:13:979469.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.979469. eCollection 2022.

Nanomaterials: A powerful tool for tumor immunotherapy

Ziyin Chen  1 , Ziqi Yue  2 , Ronghua Wang  3 , Kaiqi Yang  1 , Shenglong Li  4
Affiliations
Review

Nanomaterials: A powerful tool for tumor immunotherapy

Ziyin Chen et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Cancer represents the leading global driver of death and is recognized as a critical obstacle to increasing life expectancy. In recent years, with the development of precision medicine, significant progress has been made in cancer treatment. Among them, various therapies developed with the help of the immune system have succeeded in clinical treatment, recognizing and killing cancer cells by stimulating or enhancing the body's intrinsic immune system. However, low response rates and serious adverse effects, among others, have limited the use of immunotherapy. It also poses problems such as drug resistance and hyper-progression. Fortunately, thanks to the rapid development of nanotechnology, engineered multifunctional nanomaterials and biomaterials have brought breakthroughs in cancer immunotherapy. Unlike conventional cancer immunotherapy, nanomaterials can be rationally designed to trigger specific tumor-killing effects. Simultaneously, improved infiltration of immune cells into metastatic lesions enhances the efficiency of antigen submission and induces a sustained immune reaction. Such a strategy directly reverses the immunological condition of the primary tumor, arrests metastasis and inhibits tumor recurrence through postoperative immunotherapy. This paper discusses several types of nanoscale biomaterials for cancer immunotherapy, and they activate the immune system through material-specific advantages to provide novel therapeutic strategies. In summary, this article will review the latest advances in tumor immunotherapy based on self-assembled, mesoporous, cell membrane modified, metallic, and hydrogel nanomaterials to explore diverse tumor therapies.

Keywords: anti-tumor; immunosuppression; immunotherapy; nanomaterials; tumor microenvironment.

PubMed Disclaimer

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

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Schematic diagram of nanomaterials based on different structures, functions and delivery modes for antitumor immunotherapy applications. Immunotherapy can be customized according to tumor characteristics as a precision therapy strategy. However, for some patients who can still not benefit from the results, the nanomaterial-based immunotherapy strategy has delivered a satisfactory answer. Nucleic acids and peptides with self-assembly functions can affect and regulate the body's immune function through exogenous introduction and interference. Mesoporous materials have strong loading capacity and modifiability. They can achieve the purpose of tumor immunotherapy through the synergistic effect of multiple treatment regimens (PTT, PDT, CDT, etc.) in the case of loading or not loading drugs (or photosensitizer, etc.). To prevent tumor cells from rejecting the intruder, nanomaterials can be disguised (tumor cell membrane modification, erythrocyte membrane modification, etc.) to achieve the purpose of entering the tumor. A suitable nanostructure modification can release the drug by receiving a specific trigger at a targeted site (immune organs, tumor tissues, etc.). The diversity of endogenous (pH, ROS, GSH, etc.) and exogenous (light, ultrasonic, etc.) trigger devices makes nanomaterials controllable in time and space. At the same time, according to the different tumor sites of patients, a personalized drug administration plan (injection, non-injection, oral) can improve patient compliance and achieve the effect of longterm induction of immunity.
Figure 1
Figure 1
(A, B). Schematic diagram of (pshPD-L1+pSpam1)/CRA self-assembly (Scale Bar = 200nm). (C) Schematic diagram of (pshPD-L1+pSpam1)/CRA for tumor immunotherapy. (D) Tumor size of 4T1 tumor-bearing mice treated with PBS, CRA and (pshPD-L1+pSpam1)/CRA, respectively (31). Reprinted with permission from Ref. (31). Copyright© 2021, copyright Guo et al.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A). Schematic representation of NLG919@DEAP-DPPA-1 assembly in vitro and tumor immunotherapy in vivo. (B, C) Proportion of CD8+T cells in tumor tissues and tumor volume in B16-F10 tumor-bearing mice after treatment with PBS, DEAP-DPPA-1-Scr, DPPA-1 and NLG919@DEAP-DPPA-1, respectively. (D) Survival experiment of B16-F10 tumor-bearing mice after treatment with different groups. Treatment groups: 1, DEAP-DPPA-1-Scr; 2, NLG919; 3, NLG919@DEAP-DPPA-1-Scr; 4, DEAP-DPPA-1; 5, NLG919@DEAP-DPPA-1 (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001) (47). Reprinted with permission from Ref. (47). Copyright© 2018, copyright Cheng et al.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A). Schematic diagram of biodegradable CD@MSN combined with PTI and PTT for tumor immunotherapy. (B) Fluorescence images of major organs (heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney) and tumors at different time points after intravenous injection of Cy5-MSN and Cy5-CD@MSN, respectively. (C) Photographs of the lungs of each group after 14 days of administration of different treatment regimens to the tumor-bearing mice (yellow dashed lines indicate the foci of metastatic tumors) and corresponding H&E-stained sections (blue dashed lines indicate the borders of metastatic tumors) (77). Reprinted with permission from Ref. (77). Copyright© 2019, copyright Qian et al.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) Schematic diagram about the Cu@Fe2C@mSiO2-PEG/LA-R848-ICG-AS1411 nanozymes. (B) HRTEM images of Cu@Fe2C NPs. (C) TEM of Cu@Fe2C@mSiO2 NSs. (D) Schematic representation of degradation and drug release from temperature and pH-controlled Cu@Fe2C@mSiO2-PEG/LA-R848-ICG-AS1411 nanoenzymes. (E) TEM images of Cu@Fe2C@mSiO2 under different environments (pH=7.4, 6.5, 5.4) at different times. (F) Thermal infrared imaging of tumor-bearing mice after intravenous injection of PBS and Cu@Fe2C@mSiO2-PEG/LA-R848-ICG-AS1411 under 808 nm laser irradiation. (G) Flow cytometric statistical analysis of CD3+CD8+IFN-γ+ and CD3+CD8+TNF-α+ in mouse splenocytes after receiving different treatments (n = 3, ns, no significance, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 (87). Reprinted with permission from Ref. (87).
Figure 5
Figure 5
(A). Schematic diagram of NK-NPs encapsulated in NK cell membranes to suppress tumors with immunotherapy. (B) Schematic diagram of the treatment. The tumor on the right is defined as a “primary tumor” and treated with PDT, whereas the tumor on the left is designated as a “distant tumor” and not treated with PDT. (C) Growth curves for the primary tumors. (D) Growth curves for the distal tumors (112). Reprinted with permission from Ref. (112). Copyright© 2018, copyright Deng et al.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(A). Schematic diagram of the structural composition of KN046@19F-ZIF-8 nanoplatform and ① Schematic diagram of KN046@19F-ZIF-8 in response to tumor microenvironment and dissolution of release. ② 19F NMR signals response to GSH/H+. ③KN046@19F-ZIF-8 combined with dual-targeted immune checkpoint inhibitors for anti-tumor immunotherapy. (B) cumulative release of KN046 from KN046@19F-ZIF-8 in PBS at different pH (pH =5.0, 6.0, 6.5, 7.4). (C, D) The number of CD4+T and CD8+T cells in the tumor and spleen was measured and quantified by flow cytometry after treatment with different treatment regimens (PBS, 19F-ZIF-8, KN046, KN046@19F-ZIF-8) for the tumor-bearing mice. Data are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 5, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01,***p < 0.001) (128). Reprinted with permission from Ref. (128).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Schematic of the Smac-TLR7/8 hydrogel regulates macrophage repolarization to overcome radioresistance (133). Reprinted with permission from Ref. (133).
Figure 8
Figure 8
(A). Schematic diagram of AuNRs&IONs@Gel synthesis. (B) Schematic diagram of AuNRs&IONs@Gel induced tumor cell death that can be used for PTT, ferroptosis, and immunotherapy. (C) Morphological images of M2-type macrophages after co-incubation with IONs (Scale Bar = 10 μm). (D) Immunofluorescence staining of tumor sections from mice receiving different treatments, CD11b (red) and CD80 (green) (Scale Bar = 10 μm). (E) Tumor size of receiving different treatment modes after 25 days (n = 5). (F) Survival curves of mice treated with different regimens (n = 10). Treatment groups: 1, PBS; 2, Gel; 3, AuNRs@Gel; 4, IONs@Gel; 5, AuNRs&IONs@Gel; 6, AuNRs@Gel + NIR; 7, AuNRs&IONs@Gel + NIR (**p < 0.01) (136). Reprinted with permission from Ref. (136). Copyright© 2020, copyright Guo et al.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, Laversanne M, Soerjomataram I, Jemal A, et al. . Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin (2021) 71(3):209–49. doi: 10.3322/caac.21660 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Leone RD, Powell JD. Metabolism of immune cells in cancer. Nat Rev Cancer (2020) 20(9):516–31. doi: 10.1038/s41568-020-0273-y - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schreiber RD, Old LJ, Smyth MJ. Cancer immunoediting: integrating immunity’s roles in cancer suppression and promotion. Science (2011) 331(6024):1565–70. doi: 10.1126/science.1203486 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Biswas SK. Metabolic reprogramming of immune cells in cancer progression. Immunity (2015) 43(3):435–49. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2015.09.001 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lei X, Lei Y, Li JK, Du WX, Li RG, Yang J, et al. . Immune cells within the tumor microenvironment: Biological functions and roles in cancer immunotherapy. Cancer Lett (2020) 470:126–33. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2019.11.009 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources