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Advances in Radiotherapy
& Nuclear Medicine Nanomaterials in cancer chemoimmunotherapy

chemoimmunotherapy in cancer treatment, as well as For instance, vaccines against the hepatitis B virus are
summarizes the different nanomaterial-assisted drug used to reduce the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma
delivery systems employed in chemoimmunotherapy. in patients with chronic liver disease. Similarly, vaccines
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targeting human papillomavirus are employed to prevent
2. Cancer immunotherapy cancers of the vagina, cervix, and throat. For therapeutic
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Immunotherapy is a therapeutic strategy for treating cancer purposes, Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) was developed as the
that enhances the patient’s natural defense mechanisms to first commercial cancer vaccine for treating prostate cancer.
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combat the disease. In recent years, cancer immunotherapy This is a dendritic cell-based vaccine. On the contrary,
has gained significant attention as a powerful therapeutic talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC; Imlygic) is an oncolytic
approach. The cancer-immunity cycle, which underpins herpes simplex virus vaccine used to treat metastatic
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cancer immunity, consists of several key steps, including melanoma. In addition, several other cancer vaccines
the release of cancer-cell antigens, presentation of are currently being developed and undergoing clinical
these antigens by antigen-presenting cells, priming and trials, including the GVAX lung cancer vaccine (CG 8123),
activation of T cells, the transportation and infiltration of glycoprotein 100 (GP 100) vaccines, and the NY-ESO-1
T cells into tumors, recognition of cancer cells by T cells, plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid vaccine (pPJV7611),
and the subsequent killing of cancer cells by cytotoxic T among others. Cancer vaccines are often combined with
cells. Therefore, it is theoretically possible to target each adjuvants to activate the immune system and generate
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of these steps with various methods to achieve therapeutic robust immune responses against cancer. These adjuvants
benefits. Over the past few decades, numerous cancer typically include microbes and microbial derivatives
immunotherapy strategies have been developed, including (e.g., cytosine-phosphate-diester guanine), cytokines/
vaccines, adoptive cell therapy, therapeutic antibodies, and endogenous immunomodulators (e.g., granulocyte-
cytokine therapy (Figure 3). macrophage colony-stimulating factor), viral vectors
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(e.g., adenovirus, vaccinia virus), mineral salts (e.g., alum),
2.1. Cancer vaccines
oil emulsions or surfactants (e.g., Montanide). 9
The use of vaccines in cancer immunotherapy is an example
of active immunotherapy, where the primary goal is to 2.2. Adoptive cell therapy
activate the effector functions of the immune system. The Adoptive cell therapy is another cancer immunotherapy
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principal function of vaccines, which may contain antigens strategy that enhances the immune system’s ability to
or tumor cells, is to stimulate the immune system, eliminate combat cancer cells. In this approach, T cells are collected
the tumor, and prevent relapse. These vaccines introduce from the patient’s tumor tissue or blood and then engineered
specific antigens expressed on the surface of cancer cells ex vivo into highly active, tumor-specific T cells. These
into the immune system. Recently, the structural analysis of modified T cells are then injected back into the patient for
cancer-cell-specific tumor-associated antigens has sparked cancer treatment. These T cells primarily include tumor-
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significant interest in developing vaccines for cancer infiltrating lymphocytes, chimeric antigen receptor T cells,
immunotherapy, aimed at preventing or treating cancer. natural killer cells, and lymphokine-activated killer cells.
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Compared to other cancer immunotherapy strategies,
adoptive cell therapy offers the advantage of generating
large numbers of anticancer T cells ex vivo, which can
specifically recognize and destroy tumor cells. Two types
of adoptive cell therapy using chimeric antigen receptor T
®
cells, Kymriah and Yescarta , have already been approved
®
by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
and European Medicines Agency for cancer treatment.
2.3. Therapeutic antibodies
Immune checkpoint therapy is another cancer
immunotherapy technique that employs targeted
Figure 3. Various immunotherapy approaches for cancer treatment antibodies to activate the immune response and
Abbreviations: CAR-T: Chimeric antigen receptor T cells; GM-CSF: destroy cancer cells. These therapeutic antibodies bind
Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor; LAK: Lymphokine- to specific antigen sites and either block or stimulate
activated killer cells; NK: Natural killer cells; PD-1: Programmed cell
death-1; PD-L1: Programmed death ligand-1; TIL: Tumor-infiltrating critical immune checkpoints that regulate the immune
lymphocytes. system. This reactivation of immune cells enhances their

Volume 3 Issue 1 (2025) 84 doi: 10.36922/arnm.8150