Design of nanomaterials for enhanced cancer immunotherapy: A review

Nanomaterials for precise tumor targeting have entered the era of intelligent medicine, where their versatile applications are being widely studied. In the field of tumor treatment, nanomaterial-based immunotherapy is a highly promising strategy. However, this strategy not only hinges on the sophisticated design of nanomaterials to enhance drug bioavailability but also requires the functionality to precisely activate immunity with missile-like specificity. Recent investigations into the mechanistic basis and translational applications of nanomaterial-based cancer immunotherapy alongside multifunctional therapeutic strategies have witnessed a continuous upsurge in high-impact scholarly outputs. On the basis of these researches, this review comprehensively summarizes the categories of nanomaterials for enhancing antitumor immune responses, discusses their physicochemical properties influencing tumors and tumor-draining lymph nodes targeting capacity, and highlights recent advances in the design of multifunctional nanoplatforms to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. Finally, challenges associated with the development of next-generation nanomaterials are further discussed to facilitate their advances and clinical translation.