Immunotherapy-based novel nanoparticles in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer: Trends and challenges

Abstract

Gastrointestinal cancer (GIC) is the most common cancer with a poor prognosis. Currently, surgery is the main treatment for GIC. However, the high rate of postoperative recurrence leads to a low five-year survival rate. In recent years, immunotherapy has received much attention. As the only immunotherapy drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) drugs have great potential in cancer therapy. Nevertheless, the efficacy of ICB treatment is greatly limited by the low immunogenicity and immunosuppressive microenvironment of GIC. Therefore, the targets of immunotherapy have expanded from ICB to increasing tumor immunogenicity, increasing the recruitment and maturation of immune cells and reducing the proportion of inhibitory immune cells, such as M2-like macrophages, regulatory T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Moreover, with the development of nanotechnology, a variety of nanoparticles have been approved by the FDA for clinical therapy, so novel nanodrug delivery systems have become a research focus for anticancer therapy. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the application of immunotherapy-based nanoparticles in GICs, such as gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer, and described the existing challenges and future trends.

Research trends on nanomaterials in gastric cancer: a bibliometric analysis from 2004 to 2023

“…The addition of nanomaterials improves the responsive release, tissue penetration depth and precise targeting of phototherapy, providing precise treatment for specific cancer tissues and cells through photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy and combination therapy; multifunctional modified nanotechnology reduces the problems of poor solubility and bioavailability, systemic side effects and chemotherapeutic drug resistance development; the advantages of efficient loading and responsive release based on nanocarriers compensate for the insufficiently controlled release and drug resistance generation of targeted therapy; nanomaterials can be used in surgery navigation to clearly identify the location and the edge of the tumor, as well as metastatic lymph nodes for accurate resection [ 2 , 43 ]. The effectiveness of immune checkpoint blockade therapy cannot be significantly improved with the use of NPs as drug delivery carriers, but in combination with chemotherapy and other modalities, NPs can not only improve the efficiency of drug delivery and utilization but also enhance the anticancer immune response [ 44 ].…”

Effects of Atorvastatin combined with Gefitinib on proliferation, metastatic and autophagy of Colorectal cancer cells

“…; Advanced treatments that are still in the research and development stage, such as gene therapy, cell therapy, targeted immunotherapy, etc. However, each therapy has its drawbacks, such as tumor recurrence, lack of speci city of targets, and resistance to anticancer drugs [20][21][22] . Therefore, it is very necessary to improve and explore the treatment of Colorectal cancer.…”

“…Currently, emerging therapies to treat cancer through targeted therapies and immunotherapies are receiving increasing attention. However, these treatments are prone to drug resistance, making cancer treatments also have the challenge of developing new anti-cancer drugs [6][7][8] . In addition, the huge cost and time required in the process of developing new drugs.…”