Nanocarrier-based gene delivery for immune cell engineering

Clinical advances in genetically modified immune cell therapies, such as chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapies, have raised hope for cancer treatment. The majority of these biotechnologies are based on viral methods for ex vivo genetic modification of the immune cells, while the non-viral methods are still in the developmental phase. Nanocarriers have been emerging as materials of choice for gene delivery to immune cells. This is due to their versatile physicochemical properties such as large surface area and size that can be optimized to overcome several practical barriers to successful gene delivery. The in vivo nanocarrier-based gene delivery can revolutionize cell-based cancer immunotherapies by replacing the current expensive autologous cell manufacturing with an off-the-shelf biomaterial-based platform. The aim of this research is to review current advances and strategies to overcome the challenges in nanoparticle-based gene delivery and their impact on the efficiency, safety, and specificity of the process. The main focus is on polymeric and lipid-based nanocarriers, and their recent preclinical applications for cancer immunotherapy.