Nanomedicine for advanced cancer immunotherapy

Immunotherapy has emerged as a powerful strategy for liquid tumors to overcome the limitations of conventional cancer therapies. The nanomedical delivery system offers the possibility of enhancing cancer immunotherapy and expanding it to solid tumors. Here, we discuss the applications of medical nanoparticles to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy. We first focus on nanomedical particles used in cancer immunotherapy to deliver peptide and mRNA vaccines to the lymph nodes; and the exosome-based therapeutic cancer vaccine. Next, we highlight the applications of nanomedicine in immune checkpoint therapy to prolong the therapeutic effects, enhance tumor-targeting ability, and overcome drug resistance. We also evaluate the roles of nanomedical particles in oncolytic viral treatment, enabling the systemic injection of viruses or oncolytic plasmids/oncotoxic proteins; and virus entry in a receptor-independency manner. Lastly, we focus on nanoparticles in chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy to engineer CAR T cells, enhancing T cell proliferation and infiltration. We envision the nanomedical particles enhancing the therapeutic effects of immunotherapy and revolutionizing cancer therapy in the foreseeable future.