Recently, Prof. Dawei Ding, together with Prof. Zhiyuan Zhong and Prof. Chao Wang of the Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), published a review article entitled “Reactive oxygen species-powered cancer immunotherapy: Current status and challenges” in the Journal of Controlled Release. In recent years, immunotherapy has emerged as a promising and clinically effective approach to cancer treatment. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have become a research hotspot of cancer immunotherapy as they can not only directly reduce tumor burden but also trigger immune responses by inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD), activating the host’s anti-tumor immune responses. Furthermore, ROS can be facilely generated through various tumor treatment modalities such as chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, sonodynamic therapy, and chemodynamic therapy (Figure 1). However, the ICD-induced anti-tumor immune response is largely downplayed by the immunosuppressive signals and dysfunction of effector immune cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME). ROS, in combination with tumor vaccines, immunoadjuvants, STING agonists, and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can effectively enhance the efficacy of tumor immunotherapy, which has shown to potently inhibit primary tumors, distal tumor, recurrence, and metastasis, and simultaneously reduce the immune-related toxicity and adverse events. This review introduced ROS-powered cancer immunotherapy, summarized innovative strategies to boost ROS-based cancer immunotherapy, and discussed the challenges in terms of clinical translation and future perspectives.
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Plan of China (2021YFB3800900), the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, the open fund of the State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology of Nanjing University and the Science and Technology Program of Suzhou City. The graduate students in the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mengying He and Mengyuan Wang are co-first authors of the paper.
Figure 1. Schematic illustration of the role of ROS in cancer immunotherapy.
Reference：
Mengying He, Mengyuan Wang, Tao Xu, Mengyao Zhang, Huaxing Dai, Chao Wang,* Dawei Ding,* Zhiyuan Zhong,* Reactive oxygen species-powered cancer immunotherapy: Current status and challenges. Journal of Controlled Release 2023, 356, 623-648.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2023.02.040.
