Engineered nanomedicines to overcome resistance of pancreatic cancer to immunotherapy

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a highly aggressive malignant type of cancer. Although immunotherapy has been successfully used for treatment of many cancer types, many challenges limit its success in PC. Therefore, nanomedicines were engineered to enhance the responsiveness of PC cells to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). In this review, we highlight recent advances in engineering nanomedicines to overcome PC immune resistance. Nanomedicines were used to increase the immunogenicity of PC cells, inactivate stromal cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), enhance the antigen-presenting capacity of dendritic cells (DCs), reverse the highly immunosuppressive nature of the tumor microenvironment (TME), and, hence, improve the infiltration of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), resulting in efficient antitumor immune responses.

Automated summary

Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive and resistant type of cancer. This review highlights the recent advances in engineering nanomedicines to enhance the immune response against pancreatic cancer. Nanomedicines are used to increase the immunogenicity of cancer cells, deactivate cancer-associated fibroblasts, enhance the antigen-presenting capacity of dendritic cells, reverse the immunosuppressive nature of the tumor microenvironment, and improve the infiltration of cytotoxic T lymphocytes for efficient antitumor immune responses.