Smart Lipid-Based Nanosystems for Therapeutic Immune Induction against Cancers: Perspectives and Outlooks

Abstract

Cancer immunotherapy, a promising and widely applied mode of oncotherapy, makes use of immune stimulants and modulators to overcome the immune dysregulation present in cancer, and leverage the host’s immune capacity to eliminate tumors. Although some success has been seen in this field, toxicity and weak immune induction remain challenges. Liposomal nanosystems, previously used as targeting agents, are increasingly functioning as immunotherapeutic vehicles, with potential for delivery of contents, immune induction, and synergistic drug packaging. These systems are tailorable, multifunctional, and smart. Liposomes may deliver various immune reagents including cytokines, specific T-cell receptors, antibody fragments, and immune checkpoint inhibitors, and also present a promising platform upon which personalized medicine approaches can be built, especially with preclinical and clinical potentials of liposomes often being frustrated by inter- and intrapatient variation. In this review, we show the potential of liposomes in cancer immunotherapy, as well as the methods for synthesis and in vivo progression thereof. Both preclinical and clinical studies are included to comprehensively illuminate prospects and challenges for future research and application.

Nanocarriers for effective delivery: modulation of innate immunity for the management of infections and the associated complications

“…However, while steric stabilization enables a longer circulation time, the enormous PEG coating may also hinder the biological interaction between liposome and its intended target, and thus lowering the drug efficacy. Ligand-targeted liposomes are modified liposomes coupling with ligands, such as peptides, proteins, aptamers and antibodies [148]. However, attaching ligands to liposomal surface may impart poor pharmacokinetics to liposome, limiting its therapeutic performance in vivo [149].…”

Liposomal Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Therapy: The Rotterdam Experience

“…Exploring the role of factors such as immune checkpoints and immunosuppressive cytokines, as well as the downregulation of immune stimulatory biomolecules, along with the emergence of chronic inflammation that results in immune dysfunction and interferences with the intrinsic activity of the host immune cells, provides opportunities to help the immune system to attack malignant cells [ 162 , 163 ]. Nanocarriers, especially liposomes, have been exploited in immunotherapy, either as carriers or adjuvants in cancer vaccines [ 164 ], or for selective delivery of immunomodultory agents [ 165 , 166 , 167 ]. In fact, liposomes might be able to overcome several major drawbacks faced by cancer immunotherapies through development of a potential platform for delivery of stimulatory ligands (immunostimulatory adjuvants, immunogenes, immunostimulatory molecules), for modulating immune responses, immune checkpoint blockade molecules (CTLA-4, PD-1, PD-L1), small molecules (indoleamine 2,3-ioxygenase, TGF-β, adenosine, and IL-10) to target the modulation of the tumor microenvironment, and combinational therapy.…”

“…In fact, liposomes might be able to overcome several major drawbacks faced by cancer immunotherapies through development of a potential platform for delivery of stimulatory ligands (immunostimulatory adjuvants, immunogenes, immunostimulatory molecules), for modulating immune responses, immune checkpoint blockade molecules (CTLA-4, PD-1, PD-L1), small molecules (indoleamine 2,3-ioxygenase, TGF-β, adenosine, and IL-10) to target the modulation of the tumor microenvironment, and combinational therapy. Therefore, different liposomal-based platforms have been explicitly developed for cancer immunotherapy [ 165 , 166 , 167 ].…”

Methods of Liposomes Preparation: Formation and Control Factors of Versatile Nanocarriers for Biomedical and Nanomedicine Application

“…The modern generation of liposomes includes lipid-based targeted and theranostic nanoplatforms, obtained by the engineering of the phospholipid nanostructures [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. All those varieties of liposome nanoplatforms stimulated a great effort for the scale-up of the fabrication methods in view of industrial developments.…”