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Author Spotlight: Advancements in Nanoparticle Technology for Drug Delivery and Immunotherapy
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Improving cancer immunotherapy using nanomedicines: progress, opportunities and challenges
John D Martin1, Horacio Cabral1, Triantafyllos Stylianopoulos2
1Department of Bioengineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Nature Reviews. Clinical Oncology
|February 9, 2020
Summary
Combining nanomedicine and immunotherapy shows promise for cancer treatment. Strategies normalizing the tumor microenvironment can enhance drug delivery and reduce immune suppression, potentially improving patient outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Nanomedicine
- Immunotherapy
- Tumor Microenvironment (TME) research
Background:
- Approved nanotherapeutics offer modest survival benefits in cancer.
- Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment but benefits a limited patient population.
- Both nanomedicines and immunotherapies face challenges due to the tumor microenvironment (TME).
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore TME normalization strategies that enhance nanomedicine delivery and immunotherapy efficacy.
- To propose a combined nanomedicine-based TME normalization and immunotherapy approach.
- To identify a minimal combination therapy to broaden immunotherapy benefits in cancer patients.
Main Methods:
- Review of TME normalization strategies.
- Discussion of combined nanomedicine and immunotherapy approaches.
- Analysis of the cancer-immunity cycle in relation to therapeutic strategies.
Main Results:
- TME normalization can simultaneously improve nanomedicine delivery and reduce tumor immunosuppression.
- Combined strategies targeting the TME hold potential to overcome limitations of individual therapies.
- A minimal combination approach could increase the number of cancer patients benefiting from immunotherapy.
Conclusions:
- TME normalization is a promising strategy for enhancing cancer nanomedicine and immunotherapy.
- Combining nanomedicine-based TME normalization with immunotherapy offers a synergistic therapeutic potential.
- This approach could significantly expand the clinical utility of immunotherapy in diverse cancer types.
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