Nanomaterials in Cancer: Focus on Molecular Targeting and Immunotherapy

Dear Colleagues,

There has been an intense research interest in the applications of nanomaterials in the diagnosis and therapeutics of cancers in the last decade, resulting in great advancements in the field of targeted-delivery nanomedicines. Nanoscience has focused on cancer therapy by exploiting the structural design of stimuli-responsive nanomaterials in combination with gene therapies, drug storage, and medical imaging using external stimuli such as radiotherapy, focused ultrasounds, photodynamic/photothermal chemotherapy, and hyperthermia to achieve improved effectiveness. Despite the great achievements of nanomaterials, solid tumors raise particularly important challenges, largely due to their complex and heterogenic microenvironment.

In the fight against solid tumors, newly developed nanomaterials have been designed to combat the challenges of heterogenic vasculature, dense stroma, extracellular matrix, hypoxia, and pH gradient acidosis. A crucial part of the imminent development of efficacious tumor therapies is played by molecular-targeting nanomaterials designed to interfere with tumor molecular abnormalities by delivering silencing RNA (siRNA) and micro RNA to sites for gene regulation. The ultimate goal of targeted molecular nanomaterials is the molecular reprogramming of host immune responses against tumor cells, tumor-associated macrophages (TAM), cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), and cancer stem cells (CSCs). To this end, immunotherapies have received a lot of attention for regulating the host immune system’s natural defense mechanisms in order to inhibit primary, adaptive, and acquired resistance, and to deliver immunomodulatory therapeutics. The most recent example of a molecular therapy is that of CAR T cells against blood cancer.

I would like to invite you to submit research or reviews for this Special Issue with a focus on nanomaterials used for molecular targeting and immunotherapeutics.

Dr. Athina Angelopoulou
Guest Editor

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• cancer
• nanomaterials
• molecular targeting
• immunotherapy
• gene therapy
• checkpoint inhibitors
• adoptive T-cell therapy