Polymeric Immunonanoparticles Mediated Cancer Therapy: Versatile Nanocarriers for Cell-Specific Cargo Delivery

The major drawback with conventional therapeutic approaches for cancer therapy is decreased efficacy and redundant therapy associated toxicity and side effects causing increased patient discomfort. With the aim of minimizing these limitations, a vast amount of attention has been given to targeted nanocarrier-based drug delivery systems that possess a several-fold advantage over conventional therapy. Increased research in targeted nanoparticulate systems has led to the development of immunonanoparticles with enhanced efficacy and targeting efficiency along with decreased drug-resistant cancer- and dose-related toxicity. These immunonanoparticle- based therapies, which can be extended to immunotherapy, have gained wide attention, but few formulations will be approved by regulatory agencies in the near future. This review details the various immunonanoparticle systems explored in cancer therapy, with particular emphasis on polymeric nanoparticles. This review describes the mechanisms of immunotherapy and the pathways for targeting dendritic cells for immunotherapy. It also focuses on present status of clinical trials of immunonanoparticles and related patents, as well as various FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for immunotherapy. Toxicity issues related to immunonanoparticles along with regulatory guidelines for these therapeutic nanoparticles are also discussed.