Nanomaterials with changeable physicochemical property for boosting cancer immunotherapy

• Published in: Journal of controlled release Vol. 342; pp. 210 - 227
• Main Authors: Ni, Qiankun, Xu, Fengfei, Wang, Yufei, Li, Yujie, Qing, Guangchao, Zhang, Yuxuan, Zhong, Jie, Li, Jinghong, Liang, Xing-Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.02.2022
• Subjects: Cancer immunotherapy; Nanomaterial; Nanovaccine; Physicochemical property; T cell therapy; Tumor microenvironment; Nanovaccine; T cell therapy; Tumor microenvironment; Cancer immunotherapy; Nanomaterial; Physicochemical property
• ISSN: 0168-3659; 1873-4995
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2022.01.003

The past decade has witnessed a great progress in cancer immunotherapy with the sequential approvals of therapeutic cancer vaccine, immune checkpoint inhibitor and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. However, some hurdles still remain to the wide implementation of cancer immunotherapy, including low immune response, complex tumor heterogeneity, off-target immunotoxicity, poor solid tumor infiltration, and immune evasion-induced treatment tolerance. Owing to changeable physicochemical properties in response to endogenous or exogenous stimuli, nanomaterials hold the remarkable potential in incorporation of multiple agents, efficient biological barrier penetration, precise immunomodulator delivery, and controllable content release for boosting cancer immunotherapy. Herein, we review the recent advances in nanomaterials with changeable physicochemical property (NCPP) to develop cancer vaccine, remold tumor microenvironment and evoke direct T cell activation. Besides, we provide our outlook on this emerging field at the intersection of NCPP design and cancer immunotherapy. [Display omitted] •Nanomaterials employ physicochemical property changes to boost cancer immunotherapy.•Nanomaterials with charge reversal or hydrophilicity-hydrophobicity shift govern immunomodulator release.•Nanomaterials with size adjustment or shape deformation promote biological barrier penetration.•Nanomaterials with structure transformation activate certain immune signal pathway.