Nanomedicine-based drug delivery towards tumor biological and immunological microenvironment

Abstract

The complex tumor microenvironment is a most important factor in cancer development. The biological microenvironment is composed of a variety of barriers including the extracellular matrix and associated cells such as endothelia cells, pericytes, and cancer-associated fibroblasts. Different strategies can be utilized to enhance nanoparticle-based drug delivery and distribution into tumor tissues addressing the extracellular matrix or cellular components. In addition to the biological microenvironment, the immunological conditions around the tumor tissue can be very complicated and cancer cells have various ways of evading immune surveillance. Nanoparticle drug delivery systems can enhance cancer immunotherapy by tuning the immunological response and memory of various immune cells such as T cells, B cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. In this review, the main components in the tumor biological and immunological environment are discussed. The focus is on recent advances in nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems towards targets within the tumor microenvironment to improve cancer chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

The past, present, and future of breast cancer models for nanomedicine development

“…This strategy can allow an understanding of differential cell uptake of nanomedicines, as exemplified by a study from Costa et al, who studied the uptake of chitosan-histidine-arginine nanoparticles encapsulating plasmid (p)DNA in a 2D co-culture of MCF7 cells and human fibroblasts [67] . Nanomedicines that modulate the TME generally target stromal cells, given their role in cancer cell growth and spread, or activate immune cells to then target cancer cells [68] . As a prime example, Zanganeh et al proposed the use of Ferumoxytol®, an FDA-approved iron oxide nanoparticle, as a means to prevent breast cancer hepatic metastasis and potentiate TAM-associated immunotherapy for breast cancer [69] .…”

The synergistic antitumor activity of 3-(2-nitrophenyl) propionic acid-paclitaxel nanoparticles (NPPA-PTX NPs) and anti-PD-L1 antibody inducing immunogenic cell death

“…Current research shows that tumors might escape immune surveillance via PD-1/PD-L1 axis upon NPPA-PTX NPs chemotherapy (Peng et al, 2015;Yang et al, 2020) which highlights the significance of combining the chemotherapeutic agent NPPA-PTX NPs with immune checkpoint blockade molecules like aPD-L1. In addition, it was known that 'hot' tumors are T cell-inflamed and highly immunogenic which are usually good responders to immune checkpoint inhibitors (Li & Burgess, 2020). Besides, the higher level of TNF-a and IFN-c in serum and tumor tissues of combination therapy indicated that NPPA-PTX NPs induced NK cell proliferation, and stimulated TNF-a and IFN-c production (Jewett et al, 2020).…”

Delivery strategies of amphotericin B for invasive fungal infections

“…NPs possess several advantages for drug delivery due to their small size that allow their penetration into small capillaries and result in efficient accumulation at the target sites 28 , 29 , 30 . After intravenous administration, the conventional NPs are taken-up by the monocytes and macrophages of the reticuloendothelial system (RES) and rapidly cleared from the bloodstream, thereby limiting therapeutic effects 31 , 32 .…”