Cell-Derived Nanoparticles as Cancer Vaccines

Immune system protects our body from attacks by pathogens. Immune system can also accurately identify self and mutated peptides on cancer cells and amount an antitumor immune response.¹ As a novel cancer treatment modality, cancer immunotherapy aims at training immune cells for antigen recognition or boosting antitumor immune response. Unlike conventional therapies, immunotherapy promises to eliminate both primary and distant tumors while establishing a long-term immune memory that prevents tumor recurrence. ²

Cancer vaccines are an emerging immunotherapeutic approach that works by stimulating antigen-specific immunological responses. One of the challenges has been the delivery of tumor antigens to antigen presenting cells (APCs). With appropriate sizes and high loading capacity, nanoparticles have been extensively investigated as delivery system for tumor antigens. ³ In this presentation, I will be talking about cancer cell derived nanovaccines, including those made from cell lysates, exosomes, or extracted cell membranes.⁴ Compared with the conventional approaches, cell derived nanovaccines feature prolonged circulation and unique physiochemical properties that benefit antigen processing, cross-presentation, and APC activation. ⁵

References

1. De Visser, K. E., Eichten, A., & Coussens, L. M. (2006). Paradoxical roles of the immune system during cancer development. Nature reviews cancer, 6(1), 24-37.
2. Pulendran, B., & Ahmed, R. (2011). Immunological mechanisms of vaccination. Nature immunology, 12(6), 509-517.
3. Qin, M., Du, G., & Sun, X. (2020). Biomimetic cell-derived nanocarriers for modulating immune responses. Biomaterials Science, 8(2), 530-543.
4. Meng, Z., Zhang, Y., Zhou, X., Ji, J., & Liu, Z. (2022). Nanovaccines with cell-derived components for cancer immunotherapy. Advanced drug delivery reviews, 114107.
5. Raza, F., Zafar, H., Zhang, S., Kamal, Z., Su, J., Yuan, W. E., & Mingfeng, Q. (2021). Recent Advances in Cell Membrane‐Derived Biomimetic Nanotechnology for Cancer Immunotherapy. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 10(6), 2002081.