PEGylated lipids in lipid nanoparticle delivery dynamics and therapeutic innovation

• Peiyang Gao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1914–1930, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.133

• , the immunogenicity of PEGylated LNPs is not without benefit. In vaccine and cancer immunotherapy developments, the innate immune activation triggered by PEG lipids may serve as an adjuvant to promote stronger humoral and cellular responses [73][74]. For instance, PEGylated LNPs were able to induce

Advances of aptamers in esophageal cancer diagnosis, treatment and drug delivery

• Yang Fei,
• Hui Xu,
• Chunwei Zhang,
• Jingjing Wang and
• Yong Jin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1734–1750, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.121

• . Furthermore, immunotherapy has emerged as a prominent therapeutic modality in esophageal cancer management, demonstrating considerable clinical promise in recent years. Several clinical trials [17][18] have emphasized the advantages of immune checkpoint inhibitors over conventional chemotherapy. Meanwhile

• , due to primary resistance and acquired resistance, most EC patients cannot benefit from immunotherapy [20][21]. Among the many targeted drugs, only trastuzumab, papolizumab, and remolizumab have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of EC [22]. In addition, small-molecule chemotherapeutic agents

• drugs have not shown meaningful results for advanced EC. Combination chemotherapy has been the reference first-line treatment for advanced EC for a long time, but the effect is not satisfactory. Targeted therapy and immunotherapy have less toxicity to normal cells and greatly improve the complete

Prospects of nanotechnology and natural products for cancer and immunotherapy

• Jan Filipe Andrade Santos,
• Marcela Bernardes Brasileiro,
• Pamela Danielle Cavalcante Barreto,
• Ligiane Aranha Rocha and
• José Adão Carvalho Nascimento Júnior

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1644–1667, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.116

• agents. Consequently, the combination of natural products with nanotechnology holds significant therapeutic potential. Keywords: cancer; immunotherapy; nanotechnology; natural products; patent; review; Introduction Cancer is a disease characterized by the uncontrolled proliferation of abnormal cells

• T-lymphocyte associated protein 4), which inhibit T-cell activation, allowing cancer cells to escape immune-mediated destruction [8]. Immunotherapy shows promise as a cancer treatment approach, encompassing strategies such as monoclonal antibodies, immune checkpoint inhibitors, antitumor vaccines

• , nanotechnology opens up unprecedented opportunities in cancer immunotherapy by facilitating the co-delivery of chemotherapeutic agents, immunomodulators, and gene editing tools [22]. These multifunctional platforms can modulate the tumor microenvironment, enhance antigen presentation, reverse local

Venom-loaded cationic-functionalized poly(lactic acid) nanoparticles for serum production against Tityus serrulatus scorpion

• Philippe de Castro Mesquita,
• Karla Samara Rocha Soares,
• Manoela Torres-Rêgo,
• Emanuell dos Santos-Silva,
• Mariana Farias Alves-Silva,
• Alianda Maira Cornélio,
• Matheus de Freitas Fernandes-Pedrosa and
• Arnóbio Antônio da Silva-Júnior

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1633–1643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.115

• as a biotechnological approach to immunotherapy against scorpion envenomation. Keywords: cationic nanoparticles; immunoadjuvant; polyethylenimine; poly(lactic acid); Tityus serrulatus; Introduction Accidents caused by scorpion envenoming are recognized as an important public health problem in

• considered the main responsible for the envenoming syndrome as well as the most studied [10]. With regard to treatment, in severe scorpion envenoming cases, immunotherapy is the most common approach to protect populations from lethal effects [1][10][11]. Aluminum-based adjuvants have been extensively used to

Ferroptosis induction by engineered liposomes for enhanced tumor therapy

• Alireza Ghasempour,
• Mohammad Amin Tokallou,
• Mohammad Reza Naderi Allaf,
• Mohsen Moradi,
• Hamideh Dehghan,
• Mahsa Sedighi,
• Mohammad-Ali Shahbazi and
• Fahimeh Lavi Arab

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1325–1349, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.97

• diseases such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cardiovascular diseases like atherosclerosis, neurological disorders, and chronic wound healing [11][12][13]. Ferroptosis is a unique approach for the simultaneous treatment of cancer cells with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy to increase

• ferroptosis or enhance the effectiveness of ferroptosis inducers locally. Moreover, increasing evidence indicates that ferroptosis contributes, at least in part, to the tumor-suppressive effects of several traditional cancer treatments, such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy

• trigger controlled drug release, improving selectivity and minimizing off-target effects. Moreover, combining ferroptosis with other therapeutic modalities, such as chemotherapy or immunotherapy, may amplify its antitumor effects. The following section explores these advanced strategies to further

Better together: biomimetic nanomedicines for high performance tumor therapy

• Imran Shair Mohammad,
• Gizem Kursunluoglu,
• Anup Kumar Patel,
• Hafiz Muhammad Ishaq,
• Cansu Umran Tunc,
• Dilek Kanarya,
• Mubashar Rehman,
• Omer Aydin and
• Yin Lifang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1246–1276, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.92

• presents the role of biomimetic nanoparticles in developing targeted cancer therapies by selectively eliminating the tumor cells, sparing healthy tissues, and possibly stimulating the immune system. The review explores biomimetic nanodrug delivery systems as antitumor immunotherapy, including antigen

• recruiting other immune cells and also prevent the immune response from overreacting [38]. Therefore, T cells are the most extensively studied immune cells in cancer immunotherapy [39]. Kang et al. have developed T lymphocyte membrane-coated nanoparticles that can target cancer by T cell-associated proteins

• . BSA has some immunogenic effects and is therefore used in immunotherapy and analytic bioassay applications [78][81][82][83]. 1.3.3 Human serum albumin. Human serum albumin (HSA) has biomedical applications as HAS-templated NPs exhibit immune escape, enhanced stability, and high drug loading [84][85

Nanomaterials in targeting amyloid-β oligomers: current advances and future directions for Alzheimer's disease diagnosis and therapy

• Shiwani Randhawa,
• Trilok Chand Saini,
• Manik Bathla,
• Rahul Bhardwaj,
• Rubina Dhiman and
• Amitabha Acharya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 561–580, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.44

• research into traditional therapeutic approaches, such as small molecules/compounds, immunotherapy, peptidomimetics, and chaperon proteins, as outlined in Table 1, continues to be a critical part of the effort to tackle AD. These conventional strategies, which target different aspects of AβO formation and

Synthetic-polymer-assisted antisense oligonucleotide delivery: targeted approaches for precision disease treatment

• Ana Cubillo Alvarez,
• Dylan Maguire and
• Ruairí P. Brannigan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 435–463, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.34

• . employed PLG (Mw ≈ 56 kDa) as a synthetic polymer to conjugate with an amino-terminated CpG oligonucleotide (5′-EEGGGACGATCGTCEEEEG-3′-NH2) for targeted cancer immunotherapy, and demonstrated its effectiveness in a mouse model of melanoma [102]. These results showed that PG-CpG significantly enhanced the

Radiosensitizing properties of dual-functionalized carbon nanostructures loaded with temozolomide

• Radmila Milenkovska,
• Nikola Geskovski,
• Dushko Shalabalija,
• Ljubica Mihailova,
• Petre Makreski,
• Dushko Lukarski,
• Igor Stojkovski,
• Maja Simonoska Crcarevska and
• Kristina Mladenovska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 229–251, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.18

• applied. The standard of care includes surgical resection followed by combined chemo- and radiotherapy (RT), together with non-conventional adjuvant treatment with inhibitors targeting one or a family of biomarkers included in signalization or activation of oncogenic pathways, immunotherapy, gene therapy

Nanocarriers and macrophage interaction: from a potential hurdle to an alternative therapeutic strategy

• Naths Grazia Sukubo,
• Paolo Bigini and
• Annalisa Morelli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 97–118, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.10

• ]. Strategies for manipulating macrophage activation and function are diverse, ranging from depleting macrophages in diseased tissues, such as in cancer immunotherapy [9][10][11], to employing non-surgical treatments like extracorporeal shock wave therapy in various rheumatic diseases to promote resolution and

• immunity and enhancing cancer immunotherapy outcomes. Additionally, natural compounds such as berberine and quercetin can modulate macrophage polarization by inhibiting M1 pathways or promoting M2 activity, highlighting the therapeutic potential of targeting macrophage states in inflammatory and

Instance maps as an organising concept for complex experimental workflows as demonstrated for (nano)material safety research

• Benjamin Punz,
• Maja Brajnik,
• Joh Dokler,
• Jaleesia D. Amos,
• Litty Johnson,
• Katie Reilly,
• Anastasios G. Papadiamantis,
• Amaia Green Etxabe,
• Lee Walker,
• Diego S. T. Martinez,
• Steffi Friedrichs,
• Klaus M. Weltring,
• Nazende Günday-Türeli,
• Claus Svendsen,
• Christine Ogilvie Hendren,
• Mark R. Wiesner,
• Martin Himly,
• Iseult Lynch and
• Thomas E. Exner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 57–77, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.7

• nanomaterials with potential use as adjuvants in immunotherapy and of allergens as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), we used the InstanceMaps tool to summarise and highlight different workflows for investigating immunotoxicity and pharmacologic efficacy endpoints. Regarding materials, the studies

• immunomodulation. Here, it should be emphasised that during immunotherapy against type-2 immune diseases, such as allergies, a shift towards regulatory T cell activation is envisioned. Finally, as depicted in section D, Hasenkopf et al. [48] tested the proteins’ individual binding efficiencies on differently

Biomimetic nanocarriers: integrating natural functions for advanced therapeutic applications

• Hugo Felix Perini,
• Beatriz Sodré Matos,
• Carlo José Freire de Oliveira and
• Marcos Vinicius da Silva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1619–1626, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.127

• drug delivery, immunotherapy, targeted delivery, biomimetic-derived NPs, and stimuli-responsive drug release (1). Coated NPs for improving biological activity through biomimetic biomembranes (2): Most used materials for creating nanoparticles (A), binders used for delivery and binding to target cells

Recent updates in applications of nanomedicine for the treatment of hepatic fibrosis

• Damai Ria Setyawati,
• Fransiska Christydira Sekaringtyas,
• Riyona Desvy Pratiwi,
• A’liyatur Rosyidah,
• Rohimmahtunnissa Azhar,
• Nunik Gustini,
• Gita Syahputra,
• Idah Rosidah,
• Etik Mardliyati,
• Tarwadi and
• Sjaikhurrizal El Muttaqien

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1105–1116, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.89

• agents in a single nanocarrier has been a primary goal particularly for nanomedicine-based cancer immunotherapy, allowing for both suppression of tumor growth and inhibition of metastatic spread. Recent research trends on active targeting strategies for hepatic fibrosis still focus on exploiting HSCs as

Unveiling the potential of alginate-based nanomaterials in sensing technology and smart delivery applications

• Shakhzodjon Uzokboev,
• Khojimukhammad Akhmadbekov,
• Ra’no Nuritdinova,
• Salah M. Tawfik and
• Yong-Ill Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1077–1104, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.88

Vinorelbine-loaded multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles as anticancer drug delivery systems: synthesis, characterization, and in vitro release study

• Zeynep Özcan and
• Afife Binnaz Hazar Yoruç

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 256–269, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.24

• uncontrolled proliferation of aberrant cells, which can spread to diverse body regions, encompassing over a hundred distinct forms [1][2]. Current cancer treatments lack a complete approach, as they mostly rely on radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and surgery in clinical environments [3]. While these

Recent progress in cancer cell membrane-based nanoparticles for biomedical applications

• Qixiong Lin,
• Yueyou Peng,
• Yanyan Wen,
• Xiaoqiong Li,
• Donglian Du,
• Weibin Dai,
• Wei Tian and
• Yanfeng Meng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 262–279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.24

• therapy with biomimetic technology has been shown to effectively improve the biocompatibility and bioavailability of drugs. 4.5 Immunotherapy Traditional tumor treatment methods (e.g., surgical intervention, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy) have a certain effect in clinical antitumor treatment and can

• prolong the survival time of patients. However, they are insufficient in dealing with metastasis and recurrence. The emergence of cancer immunotherapy has changed the traditional tumor treatment model and brought hope to tumor patients, especially those with advanced malignant tumors. Cancer immunotherapy

• immunotherapy can trigger antitumor-specific immune responses and establish long-term immune memory [118]. Cancer cell membranes have become a unique method for the preparation of biomimetic nanovaccines due to the numerous tumor-specific antigens carried on their surfaces [118]. A type of microneedle

Nanotechnology – a robust tool for fighting the challenges of drug resistance in non-small cell lung cancer

• Filip Gorachinov,
• Fatima Mraiche,
• Diala Alhaj Moustafa,
• Ola Hishari,
• Yomna Ismail,
• Jensa Joseph,
• Maja Simonoska Crcarevska,
• Marija Glavas Dodov,
• Nikola Geskovski and
• Katerina Goracinova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 240–261, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.23

• complexity of resistance and continuous cancer mutations. Co-delivery of TK inhibitors with anticancer drugs, immunotherapy, or gene-specific therapeutics to disrupt key resistance pathways, reactivate p53-mediated apoptosis, or inhibit cellular drug efflux are only a few examples of strategies used to fight

Photothermal ablation of murine melanomas by Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle clusters

• Xue Wang,
• Lili Xuan and
• Ying Pan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 255–264, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.20

• past decades at an accelerating rate [1]. Depending on the features of melanomas, therapeutic options include surgical resection, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy and several others. Although these treatments could initially meet therapeutic needs, their efficacies commonly drop

Comprehensive review on ultrasound-responsive theranostic nanomaterials: mechanisms, structures and medical applications

• Sepand Tehrani Fateh,
• Lida Moradi,
• Elmira Kohan,
• Michael R. Hamblin and
• Amin Shiralizadeh Dezfuli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 808–862, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.64

• irradiation increases the efficacy of drug delivery or imaging contrast in cardiovascular diseases [189], cancer [190][191][192][193], infectious diseases [194][195][196][197], brain disorders [198][199], vaccines, and immunotherapy [200]. Escoffre et al. designed liposomal DOX-loaded MBs (DOX-liposomal-MBs

The impact of molecular tumor profiling on the design strategies for targeting myeloid leukemia and EGFR/CD44-positive solid tumors

• Nikola Geskovski,
• Nadica Matevska-Geshkovska,
• Simona Dimchevska Sazdovska,
• Marija Glavas Dodov,
• Kristina Mladenovska and
• Katerina Goracinova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 375–401, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.31

Doxorubicin-loaded gold nanorods: a multifunctional chemo-photothermal nanoplatform for cancer management

• Uzma Azeem Awan,
• Abida Raza,
• Shaukat Ali,
• Rida Fatima Saeed and
• Nosheen Akhtar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 295–303, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.24

• of death worldwide from which 9.6 million people died in 2018 [1]. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the major types of liver cancer with high incidence of mortality [2]. Currently, there are a number of treatment modalities, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, irradiation

Multiwalled carbon nanotube hybrids as MRI contrast agents

• Nikodem Kuźnik and
• Mateusz M. Tomczyk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1086–1103, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.102

• carbon nanotubes (CNT) drug and genetic material delivery, immunotherapy or photothermal cancer therapy [1][2]. The 'quantum leap' [3] of bionanomaterials has also affected magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This technique, which has already matured into a basic diagnostic tool in medicine, has an edge

Filling of carbon nanotubes and nanofibres

• Reece D. Gately and
• Marc in het Panhuis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 508–516, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.53

• recent review focussed on the use of CNTs filled with antitumour medication for use in chemotherapy and immunotherapy [49]. In particular, they noted that the high level of selectivity (when functionalized) gave the CNTs the ability to “seek out” and selectively deliver the contained drugs to the tumours

Overview about the localization of nanoparticles in tissue and cellular context by different imaging techniques

• Anja Ostrowski,
• Daniel Nordmeyer,
• Alexander Boreham,
• Cornelia Holzhausen,
• Lars Mundhenk,
• Christina Graf,
• Martina C. Meinke,
• Annika Vogt,
• Sabrina Hadam,
• Jürgen Lademann,
• Eckart Rühl,
• Ulrike Alexiev and
• Achim D. Gruber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 263–280, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.25

• the detection of signals that are otherwise masked by autofluorescence [33]. For example, recent developments in the immunotherapy of tumor cells require a multimarker-based phenotyping and spectral imaging with subsequent unmixing appears to be valuable for the identification of tumor phenotypes