Nanomaterials to improve cancer immunotherapy based on ex vivo engineered T cells and NK cells

Recent clinical successes of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy have led the booming of developments in cancer immunotherapy utilizing ex vivo engineered immune cells such as T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. However, a number of issues need to be resolved for this novel therapy to become widely applicable to cancer patients as current CAR-T cell therapies are only successful in treating some blood cancers, and economically not feasible for many patients. In this review, we describe various nanomaterial-based approaches developed to overcome current limitations in ex vivo engineered T/NK cells, along with key biological principles underlying each approach. First, nanomaterials developed to improve ex vivo expansion of T/NK cells and the basic principles of T/NK cell activation for designing nanomaterials are summarized. Second, nanomaterial-based gene delivery methods to generate genetically engineered T/NK cells are discussed with an emphasis on challenges in improving transfection efficacy. Third, nanomaterials loaded to T/NK cells to enhance their anti-tumor functions and to overcome tumor microenvironment are described with key biological characteristics of T/NK cells, which are essential for nanomaterial loading and drug release from the nanomaterials. In particular, we comment on similarities and differences of methods developed for T cells and NK cells based on the biological characteristics of each cell type.