Novel Delivery Systems and Engineering Technologies for Tumor Immunotherapy
A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Delivery and Controlled Release".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 101
Special Issue Editor
Interests: biomaterials; cell-derived carrier; immunotherapy; DNA nanotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Tumor immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment in recent years, achieving remarkable progress, particularly in areas such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), CAR-T cell therapy, and cancer vaccines. However, low clinical response rates and immune-related adverse events (irAEs) remain major challenges in current immunotherapy approaches. Extensive research indicates that only 20–30% of patients show sustained responses to existing immune checkpoint inhibitors, with many experiencing severe, sometimes life-threatening toxicities. These limitations largely stem from the complexity and heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment (TME)—including mechanisms such as immunosuppressive cell infiltration, upregulation of checkpoint molecules, downregulation of antigen presentation molecules, and production of immunosuppressive factors.
To address these challenges, researchers are developing various novel strategies to enhance the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy. Among these, novel immunotherapeutic agents and intelligent delivery systems show significant potential. These innovative systems enable in situ and targeted drug delivery, possess capabilities for multi-drug delivery and controlled release, and can remodel the tumor immune microenvironment, converting "cold" tumors into "hot" ones, thereby significantly improving immunotherapy efficiency.
This Special Issue aims to capture and summarize these exciting new research advances, including developments in immune drugs, engineering technologies, and novel functional delivery systems, providing a platform for researchers to exchange the latest findings and future directions, thereby advancing the field of tumor immunotherapy.
Dr. Qin Fan
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- tumor immunotherapy
- immune checkpoint inhibitors
- intelligent delivery systems
- tumor microenvironment remodeling
- biomaterial-based drug delivery
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