Nanotechnology for Cancer Vaccines

A Special Issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X) belonging to the section "Vaccination Against Cancer and Chronic Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 2260

Editor


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Guest Editor
Health and Medical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Central 6, 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan
Interests: cancer immunotherapy; nanotechnology; cancer vaccine; adjuvant; in situ cancer vaccine; cancer combination therapy; nanoparticle; immune checkpoint inhibitor
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will focus on the innovative use of nanotechnology in the development of cancer vaccines. It will highlight research on nanoparticle-based delivery systems, nanoformulations of tumor antigens and adjuvants, and strategies to enhance immune responses against cancer. This issue seeks contributions that explore targeted and personalized nanovaccines, preclinical and clinical studies, and novel design approaches to improving vaccine efficacy, safety, and stability. By bringing together advances in nanotechnology and cancer immunotherapy, this Special Issue aims to provide insights into the next generation of effective cancer vaccines.

Dr. Xiupeng Wang
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines 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

  • nanotechnology
  • cancer vaccines
  • nanoparticle
  • tumor antigens
  • vaccine adjuvants
  • immune therapeutics
  • inhibitory receptors
  • immune response modulation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

14 pages, 3588 KB  
Review
Nanotechnology-Based Cancer Vaccines: Translational Barriers and Emerging Strategies
by Muneera Anwer and Rifat Rahman
Vaccines 2026, 14(6), 463; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines14060463 - 22 May 2026
Viewed by 1931
Abstract
Cancer vaccines represent a promising strategy in cancer immunotherapy by inducing tumour-specific immune responses. However, their clinical efficacy remains limited due to challenges in antigen selection, including the distinction between self and non-self-antigens, as well as issues related to antigen delivery, immune activation, [...] Read more.
Cancer vaccines represent a promising strategy in cancer immunotherapy by inducing tumour-specific immune responses. However, their clinical efficacy remains limited due to challenges in antigen selection, including the distinction between self and non-self-antigens, as well as issues related to antigen delivery, immune activation, and tumour immune evasion. Advances in nanotechnology have introduced innovative approaches to improve vaccine stability, targeted delivery, and immunogenicity. Nanoparticle-based platforms, including lipid, polymeric, inorganic nanoparticles, and virus-like particles, enable efficient delivery of tumour antigens and immunostimulatory adjuvants to antigen-presenting cells, thereby enhancing adaptive immune responses. Despite these advances, several translational challenges persist, including immunosuppressive tumour microenvironments, inefficient lymph node targeting, safety concerns, and manufacturing limitations. This review summarizes key nanoparticle platforms used in cancer vaccine development and discusses major barriers to their clinical translation. We also emphasize platform-selection criteria, cargo-dependent carrier design, nanoparticle size constraints, engineering strategies used to improve cytosolic delivery and endosomal escape, and the current clinical pipeline of cancer nanovaccines. Additionally, emerging strategies such as personalized nanovaccines, mRNA vaccine platforms, and combination immunotherapies are highlighted as promising approaches to improve therapeutic efficacy. These advances are expected to accelerate the clinical translation of nanotechnology-enabled cancer vaccines and support the development of next-generation cancer immunotherapies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology for Cancer Vaccines)
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