Advanced Drug Delivery Systems for Targeted 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: closed (31 August 2025) | Viewed by 410

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Harrison College of Pharmacy, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
2. Materials Research and Education Center, Materials Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
Interests: pharmaceutical science; cancer; inflammatory disease; nanomedicines; nanoparticles

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Guest Editor
Wuya College of innovation, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China
Interests: long-acting drug delivery; liposomes; immunotherapy; oral absorption; ophthalmic preparations

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Guest Editor
Wuya College of Innovation, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China
Interests: biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Immunotherapy represents a transformative approach in the treatment of various cancers, leveraging the body's immune system to target and destroy tumor cells. However, the efficacy of immunotherapy is often hindered by challenges such as off-target effects, poor drug stability, and inadequate delivery to tumor sites. Recent advancements in drug delivery systems, particularly those utilizing nanotechnology, offer promising solutions to these challenges.

This Special Issue aims to explore the latest developments and innovations in advanced drug delivery systems designed specifically for targeted immunotherapy. We invite original research papers, comprehensive reviews, and short communications that address the following areas:

  • Novel nanocarrier systems for the targeted delivery of immunotherapeutic agents;
  • Strategies to enhance the stability and bioavailability of immunotherapeutics;
  • Innovations in personalized drug delivery systems for immunotherapy;
  • Overcoming barriers to effective tumor targeting and minimizing off-target effects;
  • Preclinical and clinical advancements in drug delivery for immunotherapeutic applications.

We are eager to gather high-quality contributions that advance our understanding and application of sophisticated drug delivery technologies in immunotherapy.

We look forward to your valuable contributions.

Dr. Xuejia Kang
Prof. Dr. Yongjun Wang
Prof. Dr. Peng Zhang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • drug delivery systems
  • Immunotherapy
  • nanocarrier
  • bioavailability

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 2918 KB  
Article
Surface Engineering of Natural Killer Cells with Lipid-Based Antibody Capture Platform for Targeted Chemoimmunotherapy
by Su Yeon Lim, Yeongbeom Kim, Hongbin Kim, Seungmin Han, Jina Yun, Hyun-Ouk Kim, Suk-Jin Ha, Sehyun Chae, Young-Wook Won and Kwang Suk Lim
Pharmaceutics 2025, 17(10), 1285; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics17101285 - 1 Oct 2025
Abstract
Next-generation cancer immunotherapy increasingly combines tumor-targeting antibodies or antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) with immune effector cells to enhance therapeutic precision. However, many existing approaches rely on genetic modification or complex manufacturing, limiting their clinical scalability and rapid deployment. To address this issue, we developed [...] Read more.
Next-generation cancer immunotherapy increasingly combines tumor-targeting antibodies or antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) with immune effector cells to enhance therapeutic precision. However, many existing approaches rely on genetic modification or complex manufacturing, limiting their clinical scalability and rapid deployment. To address this issue, we developed an antibody capture protein (ACP)-based surface engineering platform that enables the rapid, reversible, and non-genetic functionalization of NK cells with therapeutic antibodies or ADCs. This approach uses a DMPE-PEG-lipid conjugate to anchor thiolated protein A (ACP) to the NK cell membrane via hydrophobic insertion, thereby stably and selectively binding to the Fc region of IgG molecules. Using this strategy, we developed ACP-modified NK cells (AC-NKs) that can selectively capture therapeutic antibodies (trastuzumab (TZ), trastuzumab-emtansine (T-DM1), and sacituzumab (SZ)) pre-bound to each target antigen on tumor cells and induce antigen-specific cytotoxic responses. The resulting AC-NKs exhibited enhanced tumor recognition and cytotoxicity against HER2-positive and Trop-2-positive cancer cells in vitro. Compared with conventional combination therapies, AC-NKs enhanced immune activation, as demonstrated by effective delivery of cytotoxic agents, enhanced cancer cell engagement, and upregulation of CD107a expression. Notably, the system supports multiple antigen targeting and tunable antibody loading, enabling adaptation to tumor heterogeneity and resistant phenotypes. This platform might also provide a simple, scalable, and safe method for rapidly developing programmable immune cell therapies without genetic modification. Its versatility supports multi-antigen targeting and broad applicability across NK and T cell therapies, offering a promising path toward personalized, off-the-shelf chemoimmunotherapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Drug Delivery Systems for Targeted Immunotherapy)
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