Bioengineering of nano metal-organic frameworks for cancer immunotherapy

Nano Res., 2021 · DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3179-9 · Published: May 1, 2021

Simple Explanation

Cancer immunotherapy, an alternative to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, activates specific immune cells for antitumor effects and immune memory, reducing multidrug resistance and enhancing therapeutic synergy. Nano metal-organic frameworks (nMOFs) are emerging as solutions to immunotherapy bottlenecks, offering temporospatial delivery, compositional diversity, chemical interaction flexibility, and inherent immune efficacy. This review focuses on bioengineered nMOFs in cancer immunotherapy, covering design considerations, advances in vaccine delivery and tumor-microenvironment modulation, and future perspectives.

Study Duration

Not specified

Participants

Not specified

Evidence Level

Review Article

Key Findings

1
nMOFs possess superior features over conventional nanocarriers, including high porosity, large surface area, greater tunability, accurate structure, and inherent superior functions without extra loading of functional agents.
2
nMOFs can be customized for vaccine delivery by improving tumor antigen presentation and immune response and modulating the tumor microenvironment by delivering immune checkpoint inhibitors and combination therapies.
3
Surface modification of nMOFs plays a vital role in determining blood circulation, half-life, biological distribution and targeting ability and can be achieved through covalent, non-covalent, and biomimetic modifications.

Research Summary

This review explores the bioengineering of nano metal-organic frameworks (nMOFs) for cancer immunotherapy, highlighting their potential to overcome limitations in current immunotherapy techniques. The review discusses the design considerations for nMOFs, including their components, synthesis, toxicity, biocompatibility, stability, and intelligent selective release mechanisms. It further presents recent advances in nMOFs-based immunotherapy, focusing on vaccine delivery and tumor-microenvironment modulation, and provides perspectives on their future applications in cancer treatment.

Practical Implications

Enhanced Vaccine Delivery

nMOFs can be engineered to co-deliver antigens and adjuvants to antigen-presenting cells (APCs), improving the efficacy of cancer vaccines.

Tumor Microenvironment Modulation

nMOFs can be used to deliver immune checkpoint inhibitors and other therapeutic agents to modulate the tumor microenvironment, enhancing immune responses.

Multimodal Therapy

nMOFs can be designed to integrate multiple therapeutic modalities, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and phototherapy, with immunotherapy for synergistic effects.

Study Limitations

1
Potential toxicity of metal ions and organic ligands used in nMOFs construction.
2
Potential loss of structural integrity and bioactivity due to coordination of metal ions with immunologic therapeutics.
3
Inherent immune response of metal ions and ligands.

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