Albumin-based strategies to effectively prolong the circulation half-life of small immunomodulatory payloads in cancer therapy

• Published in: Current opinion in biotechnology 2024-12, Vol.90, p.103218, Article 103218
• Main Authors: Linciano, Sara, Vigolo, Emilia, Rosato, Antonio, Kumada, Yoichi, Angelini, Alessandro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Albumins; Animals; Half-Life; Humans; Immunologic Factors - pharmacokinetics; Immunologic Factors - therapeutic use; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neoplasms - immunology; Neoplasms - metabolism; Serum Albumin - metabolism
• ISSN: 0958-1669; 1879-0429; 1879-0429
• DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103218

Small immunomodulatory payloads (IMMs) such as peptide vaccines and cytokines have the capability to activate and boost the immune response against cancer. However, their clinical use has often been hindered by their poor stability and short circulating half-lives. To enhance the pharmacokinetic properties of small IMMs and promote their trafficking and accumulation in lymphatic and tumor tissues, a large variety of strategies have been developed. One of the most successful relies on the use of serum albumin (SA), the most abundant protein in the circulatory and lymphatic system. Here, we report a comparative analysis of the different covalent and noncovalent SA-based strategies applied so far to improve the efficacy of small IMMs in cancer therapy. [Display omitted] •Serum albumin (SA) enhances pharmacokinetic properties of small immunomodulatory payloads (IMMs).•SA can traffic efficiently to the lymphatics and thus promote the accumulation of small IMMs in lymph nodes.•Delivery of IMMs covalently or noncovalently linked to SA enhances immune responses against cancer.