Nanoparticles have attracted intense attention and interests in the fields of science and medical industry in recent years due to their unique chemical and physical properties that may provide new solutions to the diagnoses and therapies of some intractable diseases. It has been recognized that the nanoparticles' features including small dimensions, modifiability, diversification, and so on would play revolutionary roles in early detection and diagnosis of diseases, in tumor-specific killing, pathogen ridding and gene restoring, and would provide some new approaches in molecular imaging, targeting delivery of gene or drugs, immune regulating, etc. This review is focusing on the study progress of nanoparticle technologies in immune regulating, anti-tumor immune therapies, anti-tumor targeting therapies and new vaccine development. Also the possible mechanisms by which nanoparticles enter into cells to participate in immune therapies are discussed on the basis of references.
Humans ; Immunotherapy ; methods ; trends ; Nanoparticles ; Neoplasms ; therapy

Toxoplasmosis is an opportunistic infection caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. T. gondii is widespread globally and causes severe diseases in individuals with impaired immune defences as well as congenitally infected infants. The high prevalence rate in some parts of the world such as South America and Africa, coupled with the current drug treatments that trigger hypersensitivity reactions, makes the development of immunotherapeutics intervention a highly important research priority. Immunotherapeutics strategies could either be a vaccine which would confer a pre-emptive immunity to infection, or passive immunization in cases of disease recrudescence or recurrent clinical diseases. As the severity of clinical manifestations is often greater in developing nations, the development of well-tolerated and safe immunotherapeutics becomes not only a scientific pursuit, but a humanitarian enterprise. In the last few years, much progress has been made in vaccine research with new antigens, novel adjuvants, and innovative vaccine delivery such as nanoparticles and antigen encapsulations. A literature search over the past 5 years showed that most experimental studies were focused on DNA vaccination at 52%, followed by protein vaccination which formed 36% of the studies, live attenuated vaccinations at 9%, and heterologous vaccination at 3%; while there were few on passive immunization. Recent progress in studies on vaccination, passive immunization, as well as insights gained from these immunotherapeutics is highlighted in this review.
Drug Discovery/trends ; Global Health ; Humans ; Immunization/*methods ; Immunotherapy/*methods/trends ; Protozoan Vaccines/immunology/isolation & purification ; Toxoplasma/*immunology ; Toxoplasmosis/*therapy

Adoptive cell transfer of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) has resulted in clear and reproducible responses in a substantial percentage (approximately 50%) of patients with metastatic melanoma. The availability of tumor reactive TIL limits the use of adoptive cell transfer for the treatment of most non-melanoma cancer patients. Recent report indicated that adoptive transfer of T lymphocytes genetically modified with T-cell receptor (TCR) against a tumor antigen resulted in objective response in melanoma patients, thus shedding light on the use of this strategy for the treatment of common epithelial cancers beyond melanoma. In this review, the current status and potential use of genetic modification in the adoptive immunotherapy of cancer patients are be discussed.
Genetic Therapy ; methods ; Humans ; Immunotherapy, Adoptive ; methods ; trends ; Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating ; immunology ; transplantation ; Neoplasms ; therapy

Strategies in comprehensive therapy for gastrointestinal (GI) cancer have been optimized in the last decades to improve patients' outcomes. However, treatment options remain limited for late-stage or refractory diseases. The efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for treatment of refractory GI cancer has been confirmed by randomized clinical trials. In 2017, pembrolizumab was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as the first agent for treatment of metastatic solid tumors with mismatch repair deficiency, especially for colorectal cancer. Given the different mechanisms, oncologists have focused on determining whether ICIs-based combination strategies could achieve higher efficacy than conventional therapy alone in late-stage or even front-line treatment of GI cancer. This review discusses the current status of combining immune checkpoint inhibitors with molecular targeted therapy, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy in GI cancer in terms of mechanisms, safety, and efficacy to provide basis for future research.
Combined Modality Therapy ; methods ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; immunology ; therapy ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; methods ; trends ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

Programmed death 1/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) inhibitor has become one of the important treatment options for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, only a small subset of patients with NSCLC can currently receive single-agent PD-1 inhibitors as first-line therapy, for the limitations of population selection exclude most patients from immuno-oncology (IO) monotherapy. In order to expand the candidate population for IO first-line treatment and make more newly diagnosed patients benefit from IO treatment, a series of studies are focusing on the combination of IO and other drugs in NSCLC. We reviewed the latest clinical data of IO first-line combination therapy in recent years, suggesting that on the basis of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, combined with other IO, chemotherapy, anti-angiogenic drugs, targeted therapy or radiotherapy may produce synergistic anti-tumor effects. It is expected to benefit more newly diagnosed patients.
.
Animals ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; immunology ; therapy ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; methods ; trends ; Lung Neoplasms ; immunology ; therapy

One of the important approaches for further prolonging remission duration and eradicating minimal residual disease in acute leukemia is immunotherapy. Four kinds of immunotherapy for acute leukemia are under investigation: (1) monoclonal antibodies, among them, Mylotarg (cytotoxic antibiotic calicheamicin linked to CD33 Mab) is given for the treatment of refractory or relapsed acute myeloid leukemia and molecular relapse in acute promyelocytic leukemia with good results, Campath-1H (antiCD52 Mab) is administered in the treatment of prolymphocytic leukemia and Rituximab (anti-CD20 Mab) in B-PLL with high complete remission rates. Other Mabs under preclinical and clinical trials include anti-IL-2 receptor Mab for the treatment of acute T lymphocytic leukemia, anti-220 kD Mab-6G7 for acute leukemias, recombinant immune toxin BL22 (anti-CD22) for hairy cell leukemia and Mabs labeled with radio-isotopes for different types of acute leukemias; (2) adoptive cellular immunotherapy using cytokine-induced killer cell, alloreactive NK cells, allogeneic or autologous leukemic-specific CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes, and other immune effector cells; (3) cytokines and other immune modulators comprising IL-2, IL-12, GM-CSF, CD40L, FLT-3L and thalidomide and its derivatives; (4) leukemia vaccines of several different formulations including antigen-specific, leukemia cell-based, leukemia antigen-pulsed dendritic cell (DC) and leukemia-derived DC vaccines, the latter two formulations are more attractive. In conclusion, up to now, the most effective example of immunotherapy in acute leukemia is provided by the administration of Mabs, and the majority of other approaches in immunotherapy for acute leukemia although promising, need further studies.
Acute Disease ; Adoptive Transfer ; methods ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; immunology ; therapeutic use ; Cancer Vaccines ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; methods ; trends ; Leukemia ; immunology ; therapy

The molecular characterization of self-antigens expressed by human malignancies that are capable of elicitation of anti-tumor immune responses in patients has been an active field in hematology, oncology, and tumor immunology. More than 2000 tumor antigens have been identified. These significant progresses have led to the renaissance of tumor immunology and studies on novel anti-tumor immunotherapies in lymphomas, other hematologic malignancies and tumors. However, despite of the progress in the identification of these self-tumor antigens, current antigen-specific immunotherapies for tumors are far less satisfactory than that expected, which reflects the urgent need to improve our understanding on the basic principles underlying the selection of these self-tumor antigens. In order to develop more effective antigen-specific anti-tumor immunotherapies and to monitor the responses to these immunotherapies in patients with lymphomas and other malignancies, many additional questions need to be addressed. In this brief review, the progress in the identification of tumor antigens in lymphomas and other malignancies was outlined and the new principles of self-tumor antigens and their significance for future immunotherapies to these malignancies were summarized.
Antigens, Neoplasm ; classification ; immunology ; therapeutic use ; Autoantigens ; classification ; immunology ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; therapy ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; methods ; trends ; Lymphoma ; immunology ; therapy ; Neoplasms ; immunology ; therapy

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC), which accounts for about 15% of lung cancer cases, is an aggressive disease characterized by rapid growth and early widespread metastasis. Despite sensitive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, SCLC is vulnerable to get resistant and has high recurrence rates. In recent years, immunotherapy has shown good antitumor activity, especially programmed death receptor-1/ligand-L1 (PD-1/L1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) Checkpoint inhibitors have changed the pattern of tumor treatment, and SCLC has high immunogenicity, high mutation load and other favorable immune factors, so immuno-checkpoint inhibitors may become an important breakthrough in SCLC treatment. This article will briefly review the clinical research of immunotherapy for small cell lung cancer.
.
Humans ; Immunologic Factors ; genetics ; immunology ; Immunotherapy ; methods ; trends ; Lung Neoplasms ; genetics ; immunology ; therapy ; Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor ; genetics ; immunology ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma ; genetics ; immunology ; therapy