Page - (000390) - in Biomedical Chemistry: Current Trends and Developments

nanomaterials render to immunostimulative formulations, several hurdles, such as reproducibility, stability during production, and appropriate methods for non-thermal sterilization, need to be taken into account for developing proper immunotherapeutic approaches (Nandedkar, 2009; Sharma, 2009). For example, the reproducibility of the formulation can be affected by the variation in the size of the nanoparticles, which in turn can modify the immunogenic property of the final product (Fifis, 2004). Figure 3.5.12: Anti-OVA IgG1 and IgG2a titers in sera of female BALB/c mice after intradermal immunisation with 10 μg of ovalbumin as follows: ovalbumin solution (OVA), ovalbumin adsorbed to Alum (OVA-Alum), blank nanoparticles (NP), ovalbumin coated nanoparticles (NP I), ovalbumin encapsulated nanoparticles (NP II) and 1,3-diaminopropane cross-linked ovalbumin encapsulated nanoparticles (NP III and NP IV). The antibody titer is defined as the reciprocal dilution giving an optical density. Reprinted with permission from (Gomez, 2006). All the above-mentioned examples demonstrate the high potential of nanoparticles to synergistically improve the immunostimulative effect of antigens and other immunogenic molecules. However, using nanoparticles as anticancer immunoadjuvants and the delivery of immunostimulative biomolecules still suffers from several important drawbacks, including the problems associated with the scaling-up of the system, expensive preparation processes, and limitations for producing sterile products (Sangha, 2007). Accordingly, despite the great versatility and promising features observed for the potential of such anticancer therapeutic systems, intensive research studies are still needed in order to develop nano-formulations that can be produced in large scale and applied in the clinic.