Application of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in Immunotherapy of Liver Cancer

The iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) have been developed as multifunctional therapeutic agents for the purposes of cancer diagnosis and treatment. This review presents their use in immunotherapy targeted at hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) which is known to be the most common primary liver cancer and one of the predominant causes of mortality in the world. The fight against hepatocellular carcinoma still remains one of the greatest pulls in compassion that the world has for the disease. So, there is an immediate need for the development of effective technologies because current clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic approaches are relatively insufficient. One effective method for treating advanced cancer is immunotherapy. The number of HCC treatment medicines which incorporate immunotherapy has been on the increase. Nevertheless, improving their delivery and therapeutic efficacy, controlling their targeting and release, and minimizing their side effects remain great difficulties. Recently, the field of nanotechnology has also been oriented toward the improvement of the effectiveness of HCC-targeted treatment. Since the early 1990s, a number of IONPs have emerged as liver-specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents due to their size (in tenths of nanometers range). A size such that the reticuloendothelial system of the liver tends to entrap them more after their intravenous injection. A significant and new application of IONPs is their use as diagnostic agents in cancer immunotherapy, due to their capacity to track tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in vivo. In the tumor microenvironment (TME), TAMs are pivotal in driving tumor inflammation and constitute a significant portion of the tumor's immune cell population. TAMs are categorized into two subtypes: type M1, which displays pro-inflammatory and antitumor characteristics, and type M2, which demonstrates anti-inflammatory and protumor attributes. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) can modulate macrophage polarization in the immune system. For instance, facilitating the shift from M2-type macrophages to M1-type macrophages exhibiting antitumor properties. Such immunomodulation can potentially increase antitumor immune response and contribute to better treatment outcomes. Nanomedicines based on iron oxide, which have a simple design and wide range of properties, are able to combine several strategies in one agent. SPIONs have shown biocompatibility and safety as well as the ability for drug delivery (chemotherapy or immune checkpoint inhibitors) and magnetic applications (MRI or magnetic hyperthermia (MHT)). Despite the fact that there are a number of challenges left to face in the immunotherapy of deep solid tumors in humans, like liver cancer, it seems that magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) provide a promising path forward. Such challenges are the inactivation of immune cells and insufficient trafficking of immune cells within the solid tumor microenvironment. Their relevance in the area of nanomedicine is underlined by the versatility of those structures that can be used for both treatment and diagnostics. In order to exhaustively assess the clinical possibilities of IONPs for improvement of HCC therapy, further research is required.

Application of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in Immunotherapy of Liver Cancer Keywords:

Immunotherapy , Liver Cancer , Iron Oxide Nanoparticles , Magnetic Nanoparticles