Recent Advances in Lipid Nanoparticles for Cancer Vaccines: From Antigen Delivery to Personalized Immunotherapy
- 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Sciences, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA.
- 2Centre for Stem Cell Research (CSCR) (A Unit of BRIC-InStem), Christian Medical College Campus, Bagayam, Vellore 632002, Tamil Nadu, India.
Abstract
In recent years, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have shown great promise as highly flexible delivery systems for cancer vaccines, which enable effective cargo delivery and allow for controlling their distribution, cell-targeting ability and immunogenicity. Innovations in ionizable lipid chemistry, biodegradable formulations, RNA engineering and LNP design resulted in improvements in RNA encapsulation, endosomal escape, delivery outside the liver, and targeting of lymphoid organs and antigen-presenting cells. All these achievements led to an expansion of strategies for developing cancer vaccines from using only mRNA to personal neoantigen vaccines, self-amplifying RNA (saRNA), circular RNA (circRNA), peptide/protein vaccines, and multi-purpose platforms that combine antigen delivery and modulation of the immune system. LNPs are also studied as tools for altering the tumor microenvironment (TME) and boosting anti-tumor immunity through local delivery of cytokines and innate immune modulators. Preliminary clinical results with personalized mRNA neoantigen vaccines show strong potential for this approach. However, inflammatory toxicity, suitability for repeated dosing, off-target delivery, difficulties with large-scale production, formulation stability, personalized production schedule and regulatory issues are still significant challenges. New biodegradable and PEG-free formulations, innovations in manufacturing and lyophilization technology, and AI-based approaches in lipid screening could help overcome some of these problems.
Related
- Non-coding RNA delivery via lipid nanoparticles: a novel strategy for cancer immunotherapy
- Closing the Gap: Advances and Barriers on Candida Vaccines Development in the Last Decade
- Evaluation of Computational Neoantigen Prioritization Strategies for Personalized Cancer Vaccines.
- RNA vaccines in motion: A multidisciplinary exploration of design, delivery, and deployment.
- Recent advances in organelle-targeted gene delivery technologies using nanomaterials
BibTeX
@article{rachamala2026recent,
title = {{Recent Advances in Lipid Nanoparticles for Cancer Vaccines: From Antigen Delivery to Personalized Immunotherapy}},
author = {Hari Krishnareddy Rachamala and Ramcharan Singh Angom and Srujan Marepally},
journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/ijms27209023},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/20/9023},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Recent Advances in Lipid Nanoparticles for Cancer Vaccines: From Antigen Delivery to Personalized Immunotherapy
AU - Hari Krishnareddy Rachamala
AU - Ramcharan Singh Angom
AU - Srujan Marepally
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
JO - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
DO - 10.3390/ijms27209023
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/20/9023
AB - In recent years, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have shown great promise as highly flexible delivery systems for cancer vaccines, which enable effective cargo delivery and allow for controlling their distribution, cell-targeting ability and immunogenicity. Innovations in ionizable lipid chemistry, biodegradable formulations, RNA engineering and LNP design resulted in improvements in RNA encapsulation, endosomal escape, delivery outside the liver, and targeting of lymphoid organs and antigen-presenting cells. All these achievements led to an expansion of strategies for developing cancer vaccines from using only mRNA to personal neoantigen vaccines, self-amplifying RNA (saRNA), circular RNA (circRNA), peptide/protein vaccines, and multi-purpose platforms that combine antigen delivery and modulation of the immune system. LNPs are also studied as tools for altering the tumor microenvironment (TME) and boosting anti-tumor immunity through local delivery of cytokines and innate immune modulators. Preliminary clinical results with personalized mRNA neoantigen vaccines show strong potential for this approach. However, inflammatory toxicity, suitability for repeated dosing, off-target delivery, difficulties with large-scale production, formulation stability, personalized production schedule and regulatory issues are still significant challenges. New biodegradable and PEG-free formulations, innovations in manufacturing and lyophilization technology, and AI-based approaches in lipid screening could help overcome some of these problems.
SN - 1422-0067
ER -