Advancing Tumor-Targeted Immunotherapy Through Stimuli-Responsive Nanoparticles

Abstract

Immunotherapy of cancer has transformed the current face of oncology because it stimulates the body to recognize abnormal cells and eliminate them. Nonetheless, these clinical outcomes are usually limited because of insufficient concentration of the drug at the tumour site, non-specific biodistribution, immune adverse events, and precipitous clearance. Localisation of immunomodulatory agents in the tumour microenvironment, therapeutic index enhancement, and off-target toxicity reduction are therefore necessary due to targeted drug delivery. In this paper, a systematic review of nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems (NDDS) in the specific case of targeted cancer immunotherapy is provided, with regard to the design rationale, targeting processes, and evaluation plan. The study aims are three-fold: (i) to conduct a literature review of the key NDDS platforms applicable to immunotherapy delivery, i.e., liposomes, dendrimers, polymeric micelles, and chitosan/polymeric nanoparticles; (ii) to describe the key stages of formulation, i.e., the choice of the material, synthesis pathways (solvent evaporation, nanoprecipitation, and emulsion-based techniques), and surface functionalization to target the tumour; and (iii) to summarize an experiment- The results that were summarized show that nanoparticle delivery has a better performance compared to drug delivery in major endpoints. NDDS was more efficient in targeting (15.231 versus 8.431 5g drug/g tumour), reducing tumour size (65.412.4 vs 40.110.3%), and reducing residual cell viability in the cancer (34.552 vs 58.278). There were also higher levels of markers of immune response (120.3±15.4 vs 70.2±10.9 pg/mL), which indicate a more potent immunostimulant on the local level. An acid-response release pattern also facilitates the tumour-specific drug liberation at acidic pH. Nano-dispersible delivery systems provide an effective path to control and markedly improve the accuracy of immunotherapy by accumulating and releasing therapeutics specifically to target the therapy, whereas the main obstacles to translation include stability, prolonged biocompatibility, and scalable production.