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Pharmaceutics
Special Issues
Innovative Drug Delivery Strategies for Targeted Cancer Immunotherapy
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Innovative Drug Delivery Strategies for Targeted Cancer 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 September 2025 | Viewed by 4470

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jingjing Sun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68105, USA
Interests: prodrug micelles; nanocarrier; biomaterials; cancer immunotherapy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cancer immunotherapy, including checkpoint inhibitors, adoptive cell transfer, cancer vaccines, and cytokines, has emerged as a revolutionary approach to treating various malignancies by harnessing the body’s immune system. Despite its promise, the clinical success of immunotherapy is often limited by therapeutic agents’ delivery efficiency and specificity. Innovative drug delivery strategies are essential to overcome these barriers, enhancing the delivery and uptake of immunotherapeutic agents and reducing systemic toxicity. By incorporating cutting-edge technologies, researchers are developing various delivery systems (e.g., liposomes, polymeric carriers, inorganic nanoparticles, extracellular vesicles, cell membrane-coated nanoparticles) that can selectively target tumor and immune cells, providing controlled release of therapeutics to modulate the immune response. This Special Issue focuses on the latest advancements in drug delivery systems engineered to enhance the efficacy and specificity of cancer immunotherapies.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue by submitting original research articles, reviews, and case studies. Your contributions will help advance the field and foster collaboration among researchers and clinicians working towards more effective cancer treatments.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Jingjing Sun
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. Pharmaceutics 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 2900 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

  • immunomodulatory agents
  • cancer immunotherapy
  • drug delivery
  • nanoparticles
  • checkpoint inhibitors
  • nanocarriers

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 3368 KiB  
Article
Synergistic Chemo-Immunotherapy: Recombinant Fusion Protein-Based Surface Modification of NK Cell for Targeted Cancer Treatment
by Su Yeon Lim, Luna Kim, Hongbin Kim, Jeong-Ann Park, Jina Yun and Kwang Suk Lim
Pharmaceutics 2024, 16(9), 1189; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics16091189 - 8 Sep 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1872
Abstract
While traditional combination anticancer treatments have shown promising results, there remains significant interest in developing innovative methods to enhance and integrate chemotherapy and immunotherapy. This study introduces a recombinant fusion protein-based cell surface modification system that synergistically combines chemotherapy and immunotherapy into a [...] Read more.
While traditional combination anticancer treatments have shown promising results, there remains significant interest in developing innovative methods to enhance and integrate chemotherapy and immunotherapy. This study introduces a recombinant fusion protein-based cell surface modification system that synergistically combines chemotherapy and immunotherapy into a single-targeted chemo-immunotherapy approach. A cell surface-modified protein composed of an antibody-specific binding domain and a cell-penetrating domain rapidly converts immune cells into chemo-immuno therapeutics by binding to antibodies on the surface of immune cells. Utilizing a non-invasive, non-toxic approach free of chemical modifications and binding, our system homogeneously transforms immune cells by transiently introducing targeted cytotoxic drugs into them. The surface-engineered immune cells loaded with antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) significantly inhibit the growth of target tumors and enhance the targeted elimination of cancer cells. Therefore, NK cells modified by the cell surface-modified protein to incorporate ADCs could be expected to achieve the combined effects of targeted cancer cell recognition, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, thereby enhancing their therapeutic efficacy against cancer. This strategy allows for the efficient and rapid preparation of advanced chemo-immuno therapeutics to treat various types of cancer and provides significant potential to improve the efficacy of cancer treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Drug Delivery Strategies for Targeted Cancer Immunotherapy)
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Review

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33 pages, 8388 KiB  
Review
Peptides as Versatile Regulators in Cancer Immunotherapy: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Future Prospects
by Yu Lei, Jiacheng Liu, Yaowei Bai, Chuansheng Zheng and Dongyuan Wang
Pharmaceutics 2025, 17(1), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics17010046 - 1 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2047
Abstract
The emergence of effective immunotherapies has revolutionized therapies for many types of cancer. However, current immunotherapy has limited efficacy in certain patient populations and displays therapeutic resistance after a period of treatment. To address these challenges, a growing number of immunotherapy drugs have [...] Read more.
The emergence of effective immunotherapies has revolutionized therapies for many types of cancer. However, current immunotherapy has limited efficacy in certain patient populations and displays therapeutic resistance after a period of treatment. To address these challenges, a growing number of immunotherapy drugs have been investigated in clinical and preclinical applications. The diverse functionality of peptides has made them attractive as a therapeutic modality, and the global market for peptide-based therapeutics is witnessing significant growth. Peptides can act as immunotherapeutic agents for the treatment of many malignant cancers. However, a systematic understanding of the interactions between different peptides and the host’s immune system remains unclear. This review describes in detail the roles of peptides in regulating the function of the immune system for cancer immunotherapy. Initially, we systematically elaborate on the relevant mechanisms of cancer immunotherapy. Subsequently, we categorize peptide-based nanomaterials into the following three categories: peptide-based vaccines, anti-cancer peptides, and peptide-based delivery systems. We carefully analyzed the roles of these peptides in overcoming the current barriers in immunotherapy, including multiple strategies to enhance the immunogenicity of peptide vaccines, the synergistic effect of anti-cancer peptides in combination with other immune agents, and peptide assemblies functioning as immune stimulators or vehicles to deliver immune agents. Furthermore, we introduce the current status of peptide-based immunotherapy in clinical applications and discuss the weaknesses and future prospects of peptide-based materials for cancer immunotherapy. Overall, this review aims to enhance comprehension of the potential applications of peptide-based materials in cancer immunotherapy and lay the groundwork for future research and clinical applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Drug Delivery Strategies for Targeted Cancer Immunotherapy)
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