Bioengineering

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Georgios Alexandrakis

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Guest Editor

Bioengineering Department, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76010, USA
Interests: nanosensing; plasmonics; nanopores; cancer immunotherapy; protein-protein interactions; nanoparticle characterization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Training a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer is a tremendously promising approach that can result in long-term disease remission. Despite hitherto unheard-of successes in cancer immunotherapy, the effectiveness of treatments has not been consistent from patient to patient. A key variability driver in immunotherapy responses is the current lack of technologies necessary to design and implement personalized treatments.

The intersection of nanoscience with cancer immunotherapy opens a world of new opportunities for personalized interventions. An incomplete list of such opportunities includes: (1) ultrasensitive nanosensors detecting minute amounts of a biomarker, which could in turn enable the detection of multiple biomarkers out of a limited biopsy sample; (2) nanoparticles helping to make a tumor visible to the immune system, thus enhancing cancer cell killing by recruiting immune cells, with potential synergy from direct cell killing by drug or gene delivery; (3) novel nanomaterials being used ex vivo to train immune cells to fight a specific cancer or being implanted in vivo to sequester immune cells, and/or cancer-relevant ligands to guide the synthesis of personalized cancer vaccines; (4) nanoparticles being engineered in a wide variety of architectures to help visualize immunotherapy response.

The current Special Issue emphasizes research at the intersection of nanosensing (devices) and nanomodulation (nanoparticles) for all aspects of cancer immunotherapy, including diagnostic biomarker detection, the validation of tumor targeting and therapeutic response monitoring. It is highly encouraged that submitted manuscripts include a candid discussion of how the proposed technologies or methods could address current weaknesses in established interventions and describe the critical future milestones that would need to be attained to enable their successful translation to the clinic.

Prof. Dr. Georgios Alexandrakis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Bioengineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

cellular or in vivo imaging of nanoparticle-guided cancer immunotherapy responses
sorting or nano-sieving of ligands or receptors driving immune responses to cancer
label-guided or label-free biomarker imaging of immunotherapy response
ultra-sensitive nanosensing of immune-actionable cancer biomarkers in liquid samples
new nanomaterials or nanoparticles to modulate the immune system's response to cancer
cancer vaccines and new check-point inhibitor development and testing
liposomes or other soft nanoparticles to modulate immune responses to cancer
nanoparticle-mediated gene delivery or editing for immunotherapy

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 5971 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Use of Stromal Intervention and Exogenous Neoantigen Vaccination to Boost Pancreatic Cancer Chemo-Immunotherapy by Nanocarriers

by Saborni Chattopadhyay, Yu-Pei Liao, Xiang Wang and André E. Nel

Bioengineering 2023, 10(10), 1205; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10101205 - 16 Oct 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1741

Abstract

Despite the formidable treatment challenges of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), considerable progress has been made in improving drug delivery via pioneering nanocarriers. These innovations are geared towards overcoming the obstacles presented by dysplastic stroma and fostering anti-PDAC immune reactions. We are currently conducting research aimed at enhancing chemotherapy to stimulate anti-tumor immunity by inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD). This is accomplished using lipid bilayer-coated nanocarriers, which enable the attainment of synergistic results. Noteworthy examples include liposomes and lipid-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles known as “silicasomes”. These nanocarriers facilitate remote chemotherapy loading, as well as the seamless integration of immunomodulators into the lipid bilayer. In this communication, we elucidate innovative ways for further improving chemo-immunotherapy. The first is the development of a liposome platform engineered by the remote loading of irinotecan while incorporating a pro-resolving lipoxin in the lipid bilayer. This carrier interfered in stromal collagen deposition, as well as boosting the irinotecan-induced ICD response. The second approach was to synthesize polymer nanoparticles for the delivery of mutated KRAS peptides in conjunction with a TLR7/8 agonist. The dual delivery vaccine particle boosted the generation of antigen-specific cytotoxic T-cells that are recruited to lymphoid structures at the cancer site, with a view to strengthening the endogenous vaccination response achieved by chemo-immunotherapy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanosensors and Nanomodulators in Cancer Immunotherapy)

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Review

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29 pages, 7173 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Application of Biomedicine in Chemodynamic Therapy: From Material Design to Improved Strategies

by Bingwei Cheng, Dong Li, Changhong Li, Ziqi Zhuang, Peiyu Wang and Gang Liu

Bioengineering 2023, 10(8), 925; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10080925 - 3 Aug 2023

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Abstract

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) has garnered significant interest as an innovative approach for cancer treatment, owing to its notable tumor specificity and selectivity, minimal systemic toxicity and side effects, and absence of the requirement for field stimulation during treatment. This treatment utilizes nanocatalytic medicines containing transitional metals to release metal ions within tumor cells, subsequently initiating Fenton and Fenton-like reactions. These reactions convert hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) into hydroxyl radical (•OH) specifically within the acidic tumor microenvironment (TME), thereby inducing apoptosis in tumor cells. However, insufficient endogenous H₂O₂, the overexpressed reducing substances in the TME, and the weak acidity of solid tumors limit the performance of CDT and restrict its application in vivo. Therefore, a variety of nanozymes and strategies have been designed and developed in order to potentiate CDT against tumors, including the application of various nanozymes and different strategies to remodel TME for enhanced CDT (e.g., increasing the H₂O₂ level in situ, depleting reductive substances, and lowering the pH value). This review presents an overview of the design and development of various nanocatalysts and the corresponding strategies employed to enhance catalytic drug targeting in recent years. Additionally, it delves into the prospects and obstacles that lie ahead for the future advancement of CDT. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanosensors and Nanomodulators in Cancer Immunotherapy)

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