Exosomes in cancer immunoediting and immunotherapy

As an important means of communication among cells,exosomes are being studied more and more widely,especially in the context of cancer immunotherapy.In the phase of tumor immunoediting,exosomes derived from tumor cells and different immune cells have complex and changeable physiological functions,because they carry different proteins and nucleic acid from the source cells.Based on the role of exosomes in the communication between different cells,cancer treatment methods are also under continuous research.This review briefly introduces the molecular composition of exosomes,which is closely related to their secretion mechanism.Subsequently,the role of exosomes encapsulating different information molecules is summarized.The role of exosomes in the three phases of tumor immunoediting is introduced in detail,and the relevant literature of exosomes in the tumor immunemicroenvironment is summarized by using a novel framework for extracting relevant documents.Finally,it summarizes the various exosome-based immunotherapies currently proposed,as well as the challenges and future prospects of exosomes in tumor immunotherapy.

Small extracellular vesicles encapsulating lefty1 mRNA inhibit hepatic fibrosis

Liver fibrosis is the deposition of extracellular matrix(ECM)in the liver caused by persistent chronic injury,which can lead to more serious diseases such as cirrhosis or cancer.Blocking the effect of transforming growth factorβ1(TGF-β1),one of the most important cytokines in liver fibrosis,may be one of the effective ways to inhibit liver fibrosis.As a kind of natural nano-scale vesicles,small extracellular vesicles(sEvs)have displayed excellent delivery vehicle properties.Herein,we prepared hepatic stellate cell(HSC)-derived sEvs loading left-right determination factor 1(lefty1)mRNA(sEvLs)and we wanted to verify whether they can inhibit fibrosis by blocking the TGF-β1 signaling pathway.The results showed that sEvLs had effective cell uptake and reduced activation of HSCs.Rats that were injected with CCl 4 by intraperitoneal injection for 6 weeks exhibited obvious symptoms of liver fibrosis and were treated with systemically administered sEvLs and free sEvs for 4 weeks.Rats injected with olive oil alone served as sham controls.Administration of sEvLs significantly reduced the area of fibrosis compared with free sEvs.We demonstrated that sEvLs inhibited HSCs activation and ECM production,and promote ECM degradation by downregulatingα-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA),collagen I,tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase(TIMP)-1 and upregulating matrix metalloprotease(MMP)-1.In summary,as an endogenous delivery vehicle,sEvs could deliver mRNA to attenuate hepatic fibrosis by blocking the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway.

Microfluidics for nano-drug delivery systems: From fundamentals to industrialization

In recent years,owing to the miniaturization of the fluidic environment,microfluidic technology offers unique opportunities for the implementation of nano drug delivery systems(NDDSs)production processes.Compared with traditional methods,microfluidics improves the controllability and uniformity of NDDSs.The fast mixing and laminar flow properties achieved in the microchannels can tune the physicochemical properties of NDDSs,including particle size,distribution and morphology,resulting in narrow particle size distribution and high drug-loading capacity.The success of lipid nanoparticles encapsulated mRNA vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 by microfluidics also confirmed its feasibility for scaling up the preparation of NDDSs via parallelization or numbering-up.In this review,we provide a comprehensive summary of microfluidics-based NDDSs,including the fundamentals of microfluidics,microfluidic synthesis of NDDSs,and their industrialization.The challenges of microfluidicsbased NDDSs in the current status and the prospects for future development are also discussed.We believe that this review will provide good guidance for microfluidics-based NDDSs.

Acid-switchable nanoparticles induce self-adaptive aggregation for enhancing antitumor immunity of natural killer cells

Deficiency of natural killer(NK)cells shows a significant impact on tumor progression and failure of immunotherapy.It is highly desirable to boost NK cell immunity by upregulating active receptors and relieving the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.Unfortunately,mobilization of NK cells is hampered by poor accumulation and short retention of drugs in tumors,thus declining antitumor efficiency.Herein,we develop an acid-switchable nanoparticle with self-adaptive aggregation property for co-delivering galunisertib and interleukin 15(IL-15).The nanoparticles induce morphology switch by a decomposition-metal coordination cascade reaction,which provides a new methodology to trigger aggregation.It shows self-adaptive size-enlargement upon acidity,thus improving drug retention in tumor to over 120 h.The diameter of agglomerates is increased and drug release is effectively promoted following reduced p H values.The nanoparticles activate both NK cell and CD8+T cell immunity in vivo.It significantly suppresses CT26 tumor in immune-deficient BALB/c mice,and the efficiency is further improved in immunocompetent mice,indicating that the nanoparticles can not only boost innate NK cell immunity but also adaptive T cell immunity.The approach reported here provides an innovative strategy to improve drug retention in tumors,which will enhance cancer immunotherapy by boosting NK cells.

Smart drug delivery systems for precise cancer therapy

Nano-drug delivery strategies have been highlighted in cancer treatment, and much effort has been made in the optimization of bioavailability, biocompatibility, pharmacokinetics profiles, and in vivo distributions of anticancer nano-drug delivery systems. However, problems still exist in the delicate balance between improved anticancer efficacy and reduced toxicity to normal tissues, and opportunities arise along with the development of smart stimuli-responsive delivery strategies. By on-demand responsiveness towards exogenous or endogenous stimulus, these smart delivery systems hold promise for advanced tumor-specificity as well as controllable release behavior in a spatial-temporal manner. Meanwhile, the blossom of nanotechnology, material sciences, and biomedical sciences has shed light on the diverse modern drug delivery systems with smart characteristics, versatile functions, and modification possibilities. This review summarizes the current progress in various strategies for smart drug delivery systems against malignancies and introduces the representative endogenous and exogenous stimuli-responsive smart delivery systems. It may provide references for researchers in the fields of drug delivery, biomaterials, and nanotechnology.

Oral delivery of superoxide dismutase by lipid polymer hybrid nanoparticles for the treatment of ulcerative colitis

Protein-based drugs have received extensive attention in the field of drug research in recent years.However,protein-based drug activity is difficult to maintain during oral delivery,which limits its application.This study developed bifunctional oral lipid polymer hybrid nanoparticles(R8-PEG-PPNPs)that deliver superoxide dismutase(SOD)for the treatment of ulcerative colitis(UC).R8-PEG-PPNPs was composed of PCADK,PLGA,lecithin,and co-modified with stearic acid-octa-arginine and polyethylene glycol.The nanoparticles(NPs)are uniformly dispersed with a complete spherical structure.In vitro stability and release studies showed that R8-PEG-PPNPs exhibited good stability and protection.In vitro cell culture experiments demonstrated that R8-PEG-PPNPs as carriers have no significant toxic effects on cells at concentration below 1000µg/mL and promote cellular uptake.In experiments with ulcerative colitis mice,R8-PEG-PPNPs were able to enhance drug absorption by intestinal epithelial cells and accumulate effectively at the site of inflammation.Its therapeutic effect further demonstrates that R8-PEG-PPNPs are a promising delivery system for oral delivery of protein-based drugs.