Nanoparticle-mediated tumor vaccines for personalized therapy: preparing tumor antigens in vivo or ex vivo?

Abstract

Tumor vaccines, focusing on tailoring individual tumor antigens, have gained much attention in personalized tumor therapy. Recently, breakthroughs have been made in the development of tumor vaccines thanks to the progress in nanotechnology. We will summarize nanoparticle-mediated tumor vaccines for personalized therapy in this review. ROS/heat generating nanoparticles and molecules could induce immunogenic cell death and tumor antigen release in vivo. This strategy often includes chemotherapy, radiotherapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, magneto-thermal therapy, etc. On the other hand, ex vivo technologies have been applied for processing of tumor cells/tissues to form effective tumor antigens, in which nanotechnology has shown very good prospects in delivering tumor antigens. In in vivo and ex vivo strategies, nanotechnology also could improve the immune effect through enhancing the uptake by targeting cells, reducing therapeutic drugs/agents, further encapsulating immuno-modulatory molecules or combining with other therapy treatments. Thus, therapeutic vaccines based on nanoparticles have the potential to enhance the immune response and reduce the side effects.