Recent Advances of Mesoporous Silica as a Platform for Cancer Immunotherapy.

Albert Yu,Xiaoyong Dai,Bing Guo,Laiqiang Huang,Zixian Wang,Huaqing Chen

doi:10.3390/bios12020109

Albert Yu, Xiaoyong Dai + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/bios12020109

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Abstract

Immunotherapy is a promising modality of treatment for cancer. Immunotherapy is comprised of systemic and local treatments that induce an immune response, allowing the body to fight back against cancer. Systemic treatments such as cancer vaccines harness antigen presenting cells (APCs) to activate T cells with tumor-associated antigens. Small molecule inhibitors can be employed to inhibit immune checkpoints, disrupting tumor immunosuppression and immune evasion. Despite the current efficacy of immunotherapy, improvements to delivery can be made. Nanomaterials such as mesoporous silica can facilitate the advancement of immunotherapy. Mesoporous silica has high porosity, decent biocompatibility, and simple surface functionalization. Mesoporous silica can be utilized as a versatile carrier of various immunotherapeutic agents. This review gives an introduction on mesoporous silica as a nanomaterial, briefly covering synthesis and biocompatibility, and then an overview of the recent progress made in the application of mesoporous silica to cancer immunotherapy.

Highlights

There has been incredible development in the field of medicine from the late20th century to the 21st century, cancer remains one of the toughest diseases to treat [1].While traditional chemotherapy is a cornerstone of cancer treatment, it suffers from several key limitations: low aqueous solubility that leads to either low dosage or the use of toxic solvents [2], poor selectivity and specificity that leads to systemic cytotoxicity [3], and multidrug resistance that leads to low treatment efficacy and tumor recurrence [4]
This review aims to provide a concise overview of the recent research progress and development of mesoporous silica as a nanomaterial and is organized as follows
This review focuses on the synthesis of mesoporous silica that is applicable to drug delivery and immunotherapy

Summary

Introduction

While traditional chemotherapy is a cornerstone of cancer treatment, it suffers from several key limitations: low aqueous solubility that leads to either low dosage or the use of toxic solvents [2], poor selectivity and specificity that leads to systemic cytotoxicity [3], and multidrug resistance that leads to low treatment efficacy and tumor recurrence [4]. Recent years have witnessed the development of new therapeutics such as targeted therapeutics and immunotherapeutics, which despite improving on some of the shortcomings, still have limitations similar to traditional chemotherapy. The use of nanoparticles can improve biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of therapeutic agents [5,6]. Inorganic nanoparticles have garnered increased interest as a DDS, with mesoporous silica being a relatively new material for study and research

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