Aimed at acquiring long-term immune memory, prevention and tumor killing, immunotherapy is a new method for tumor therapy by introducing and enhancing the antigen specific immune response. Compared with the traditional chemotherapy, tumor immunotherapy has less side effects and shows better clinical response. From the original antigen vaccine to the current development of adoptive cell therapy such as chimeric antigen receptor T lymphocytes (CAR-T), the treatment effect has been improved. However, some problems still exist in immunotherapies:the poor targeting property of therapeutic protein and nucleic acid, the difficulty in crossing the physical barrier, the inclination to be degraded, as well as the potential toxicity caused by immunogenicity, all of which require further improvement for better immunotherapeutic strategy. As effective carries for loading proteins and nucleic acids, a variety of biomedical materials are used to solve the above problems. At present, the biological carriers contain several functions in immunotherapy:(1) reduce the degradation of therapeutic substances such as protein and nucleic acid; (2) enhance targeting of conditioned drugs; (3) assist to cross the physical barrier; (4) reduce systemic side effects; (5) achieve persistent release. In this article, the latest development of new biomedical material carriers is introduced, and the existing problems and the possible challenges are also put forward.
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Tumor antigen vaccine
3 Cytokine immunotherapy
4 Gene immunotherapy
4.1 Polymer carrier
4.2 Metal and inorganic nano-carrier
5 Monoclonal antibody immunotherapy
5.1 Polymer nanoparticle carrier
5.2 Injectable hydrogel carrier
6 Adoptive immunotherapy
6.1 Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle carrier
6.2 Gel carrier
7 Conclusion