Cancer immunotherapy agents fight
cancer via immune system stimulation and have made significant advances in minimizing side effects and prolonging the survival of patients with solid
tumors. However, major limitations still exist in
cancer immunotherapy, including the inefficiency of immune response stimulation in specific
cancer types,
therapy resistance caused by the tumor microenvironment (TME), toxicities by the immune imbalance, and short lifetime of stimulator of
interferon genes (
STING) agonist. Recent advances in nanomedicine have shown significant potential in overcoming the obstacles of
cancer immunotherapy. Several nanoscale agents have been reported for
cancer immunotherapy, including nanoscale
cancer vaccines impacting the
STING pathway, nanomaterials reprogramming TME, nano-agents triggering immune response with
immune checkpoint inhibitor synergy, ferroptosis-mediated and indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase immunosuppression-mediated
cancer immunotherapy, and nanomedicine-meditated
chimeric antigen receptor-T-cell
therapy. Herein, we summarize the major advances and innovations in nanomedicine-based
cancer immunotherapy, and outline the opportunities and challenges to integrate more advanced nanomaterials into
cancer immunotherapy. This article is categorized under: Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies.