Immunology‐Guided Biomaterial Design for Mucosal Cancer Vaccines

Abstract

Cancer of mucosal tissues is a major cause of worldwide mortality for which only palliative treatments are available for patients with late‐stage disease. Engineered cancer vaccines offer a promising approach for inducing antitumor immunity. The route of vaccination plays a major role in dictating the migratory pattern of lymphocytes, and thus vaccine efficacy in mucosal tissues. Parenteral immunization, specifically subcutaneous and intramuscular, is the most common vaccination route. However, this induces marginal mucosal protection in the absence of tissue‐specific imprinting signals. To circumvent this, the mucosal route can be utilized, however degradative mucosal barriers must be overcome. Hence, vaccine administration route and selection of materials able to surmount transport barriers are important considerations in mucosal cancer vaccine design. Here, an overview of mucosal immunity in the context of cancer and mucosal cancer clinical trials is provided. Key considerations are described regarding the design of biomaterial‐based vaccines that will afford antitumor immune protection at mucosal surfaces, despite limited knowledge surrounding mucosal vaccination, particularly aided by biomaterials and mechanistic immune–material interactions. Finally, an outlook is given of how future biomaterial‐based mucosal cancer vaccines will be shaped by new discoveries in mucosal vaccinology, tumor immunology, immuno‐therapeutic screens, and material–immune system interplay.

Mucosal vaccines — fortifying the frontiers

“…Vaccination via the oral route poses an added challenge with the low gastric pH and difficulty in ensuring release of the nucleic acid payload at the appropriate location. Innovative protective delivery strategies for nucleic acids have been developed using nanocarriers and biomaterials [109][110][111] , and in particular the complexing of nucleic acids with polycationic materials including chitosan and polyethylenimine (PEI) and encapsulation of the nucleic acid cargo utilizing liposomes and polymersomes are showing potential. Lipidoid nanoparticles have been shown to effectively deliver small interfering RNA molecules to intestinal epithelial cells in the lower small intestine and colon following oral administration 112 .…”

Let's Talk About Sex—Biological Sex Is Underreported in Biomaterial Studies

“…[26,70,73,74] To accomplish the goals of precision medicine requires precision biomaterials: biomaterials designed with the biology of the individual patient in mind for eliciting desired and predictable outcomes. [75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84] This includes considering a patient's sex, age, and ancestry in developing a precision biomaterial.…”

Strategies for the Construction of Mouse Models With Humanized Immune System and Evaluation of Tumor Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy

“…Additionally, some new immunotherapies, such as adoptive cell therapy ( 75 ), oncolytic virus therapy ( 76 ), and tumor vaccines ( 77 ) can be used to change the TIME. Their effects were examined in combination with IC inhibitors in HIS mouse models.…”