The polymeric nanovectors landscape for cancer immunotherapies towards advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs)

Despite major advances in oncology, cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, underscoring the need for more effective and personalized therapeutic solutions. Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), including gene and cell-based therapies, have emerged as a promising frontier for immune cell engineering in oncology. However, current approaches still face several technical/safety issues, mainly associated with the delivery strategies used and their complex manufacturing processes. In this context, polymeric nanovectors (pNVs) have gained attention as a promising tool for developing efficient therapeutic delivery systems. The possibility of customizing pNVs' composition/physicochemical properties, exploiting natural/synthetic polymers, enables more precise and controlled cargo delivery to immune cells, paving the way for the development of future ATMPs-oriented strategies for cancer immunotherapy. This review highlights the recent advancements in the application of pNVs for the editing of immune cells, focusing on innovative nanotechnology-based strategies to enhance the precision and efficacy of immunotherapy with a particular emphasis on their prospective role in next-generation ATMP development.