Engineered nanomaterials trigger abscopal effect in immunotherapy of metastatic cancers

Yuanliang Xia; Ruohan Yang; Jianshu Zhu; Hengyi Wang; Yuehong Li; Jiawei Fan; Changfeng Fu

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2022.890257

Engineered nanomaterials trigger abscopal effect in immunotherapy of metastatic cancers

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2022 Oct 26:10:890257. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.890257. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yuanliang Xia¹, Ruohan Yang², Jianshu Zhu¹, Hengyi Wang¹, Yuehong Li¹, Jiawei Fan³, Changfeng Fu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Spine Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
² Cancer Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
³ Department of Gastroenterology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.

Abstract

Despite advances in cancer treatment, metastatic cancer is still the main cause of death in cancer patients. At present, the treatment of metastatic cancer is limited to palliative care. The abscopal effect is a rare phenomenon in which shrinkage of metastatic tumors occurs simultaneously with the shrinkage of a tumor receiving localized treatment, such as local radiotherapy or immunotherapy. Immunotherapy shows promise for cancer treatment, but it also leads to consequences such as low responsiveness and immune-related adverse events. As a promising target-based approach, intravenous or intratumoral injection of nanomaterials provides new opportunities for improving cancer immunotherapy. Chemically modified nanomaterials may be able to trigger the abscopal effect by regulating immune cells. This review discusses the use of nanomaterials in killing metastatic tumor cells through the regulation of immune cells and the prospects of such nanomaterials for clinical use.

Keywords: abscopal effect; immune cells; immunotherapy; metastatic cancer; nanomaterials.

Publication types

Review