Nanomedicine and cancer immunotherapy – targeting immunosuppressive cells

Abstract

The search for pharmacological strategies to reach and impact on immunosuppressive cells is, currently, one of the most exciting areas in cancer immunology and clinical oncology. In this context, it is increasingly accepted that the success of these therapies will largely depend on the availability of appropriate drug delivery strategies. Considering the critical role that nanotechnology plays in the development of these novel therapies, the main goal of this article is to provide an overview of the potential of nanomedicines targeted to immunosuppressive cells for the treatment of cancer. We present, first, a brief description of classical cancer immunotherapies based on therapeutic vaccination and monoclonal antibodies, with a special focus on the use of nanotechnologies and the targeting of immunological checkpoints. Second, we provide a thoughtful analysis of the possibilities to target the immunosuppressive cells, namely tumour-associated macrophages, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, tumour-associated neutrophils and regulatory T cells, at the tissue level (i.e. tumour, spleen, blood, lymph) and, also, at the cellular level. Finally, we wrap the article with a disclosure of strategies used to impair the generation, kill or re-educate these immunosuppressive cells, thus providing an up-to-date picture of the choices available for therapeutic intervention.

• Biopolymers
• cancer immunotherapy
• drug targeting
• nanomedicine
• lymphatics
• oncologicals
• tumour associated macrophages
• tumour microenvironment

Declaration of interest

This work was supported by the ERA-NET EuroNanoMed II framework by ISCIII through CIBER-BBN and Xunta de Galicia, Competitive Reference Groups, GRC2013-043 (FEDER Funds). F.T.A. is recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship from the Galician Government, Spain (Resolution 21, March 2013) and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual European Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014-EF-ST) from the European Commission for the project NANOTAM, No. 658592.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.