ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of different immunotherapies, and the different drug delivery systems with focus on nanoparticles. It presents an update on the use of nanoparticles as delivery vehicles and the potential solutions they offer for immune checkpoint inhibition therapy. Methods of cancer treatment include surgical removal of the cancer, radiotherapy, stem cell transplantation or anticancer drug therapy that include chemotherapy, targeted therapy, hormone therapy, or immune therapy. Promising immunotherapy approaches include adoptive cell transfer, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, treatment vaccines, cytokine treatment using interferons and interleukins, Bacillus Calmette Guerin, which is a weakened bacterium used in the treatment of bladder cancer, and immune checkpoint inhibitors. The discovery of immunosuppressive inhibitory processes in the cancer-immunity cycle has resulted in the design of new therapeutic tools that aim to overcome the immune inhibitory processes and fight cancer cells as will be detailed in the section about immune checkpoint blockade.
