How are natural-based polymers shaping the future of cancer immunotherapy—A review

Abstract

With the increasing knowledge of cancer pathophysiology, new therapeutics based on the modulation of the immune system have been developed, overcoming many of the disadvantages of traditional pharmaceuticals. Several immunotherapy systems have in fact become the preferred treatments to tackle particular types of cancer. Despite these impressive clinical results, issues, such as biomolecule susceptibility to proteolytic degradation and tumor microenvironment immunosuppression need to be overcome to further increase efficacy and safety upon use in patients. Natural-based polymers have shown the potential to address some of these limitations. Widely used in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, these polymers have been increasingly incorporated in the development of improved immunotherapeutics due to intrinsic properties, such as biocompatibility and bio-similarity. In this review, the novelties these polymers have brought to immunotherapy and their implementation to create new and more complex therapeutics are outlined, and emerging trends are identified. We argue that to fully exploit the potential of natural-based polymers, improved interaction between clinicians and material scientists must come to the fore. Concurrently, material scientists must intensify efforts to overcome the problem of batch-to-batch variability in natural-based polymers to streamline clinical application. All-in-all, we envision a bright future for natural-based polymers in immunotherapy.