Abstract

Cancer immunotherapy has shown remarkable progress in recent years. Nanocarriers, such as liposomes, have favorable advantages with the potential to further improve cancer immunotherapy and even stronger immune responses by improving cell type-specific delivery and enhancing drug efficacy. Liposomes can offer solutions to common problems faced by several cancer immunotherapies, including the following: (1) Vaccination: Liposomes can improve the delivery of antigens and other stimulatory molecules to antigen-presenting cells or T cells; (2) Tumor normalization: Liposomes can deliver drugs selectively to the tumor microenvironment to overcome the immune-suppressive state; (3) Rewiring of tumor signaling: Liposomes can be used for the delivery of specific drugs to specific cell types to correct or modulate pathways to facilitate better anti-tumor immune responses; (4) Combinational therapy: Liposomes are ideal vehicles for the simultaneous delivery of drugs to be combined with other therapies, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and phototherapy. In this review, different liposomal systems specifically developed for immunomodulation in cancer are summarized and discussed.

Highlights

  • Cancer immunotherapy has shown remarkable progress in recent years

  • The cancer antigens can be presented into the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules or cross-presented into the MHC class I molecules on dendritic cells (DCs) that migrate to draining lymph nodes to initiate T cell activation [3]

  • We have summarized the therapeutic strategies of immunomodulation in recent years and discuss the different mechanisms used to intervene with tumor immunity through the application of liposome technology

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Summary

The Potential of Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Cancer

Cancer immunotherapy has been widely explored because of its durable and robust effects [1]. Tumors are more than just insular masses consisting of proliferating cancer cells; they have a complex composition built by multiple cell types, which participate in heterotypic interactions with each other [2]. Sustained antitumor responses triggered by immunotherapeutic treatments have been demonstrated via the active stimulation of specific targets such as immune cells, normalization of the tumor microenvironment (TME), and other mechanisms

The Generation and Regulation of Tumor Immunity
Recent Development of Cancer Immunotherapy
The Emergence of Liposomes as Drug Delivery Vehicles in Cancer Immunotherapy
Liposome-Based Drug Delivery Systems Used for Immunotherapy
Liposome-Based Delivery of Immunostimulatory Adjuvants to DCs
Liposome-Based Immunogene Therapy
Liposome-Based Delivery of Immunostimulatory Molecules to T Cells
Blockade of CTLA-4 Via Liposomes
Blockade of PD-1 Via Liposomes
Blockade of PD-L1 Via Liposomes
Liposome-Based Delivery of Small Molecules to Selectively Modulate the TME
Adenosine
Liposome-Based Delivery of Immunochemotherapy
Liposome-Mediated Immunotherapy Combined with Sonodynamic or Phototherapy
Findings
Conclusions
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