Figure 1.

Nanoparticulate cancer vaccines. (A) NPs are able to deliver several TAAs and adjuvants simultaneously, enabling a coordinated activation of DCs. NPs can also be functionalized in order to actively target DCs in vivo, increase their cellular internalization and immunogenicity or even target specific intracellular compartments. (B) NP-based cancer vaccines can be targeted to DCs in vivo and after their internalization induce the maturation of these cells. TAAs and adjuvants are simultaneously released inside the same DC which guaranties its coordinated activation. TAAs are presented trough MHC class I and class II molecules to CD8+ and CD4+ naïve T cells which recognize the processed antigens through TCRs. Activated CD8+ T cells differentiate into CTLs, which can destroy tumor cells, and memory T cells, that are important to avoid recidivism and metastasis. CD4+ T cells should differentiate in Th1 cells, which will potentiate the action of CTLs and will also activate cells of the innate immune system, such as NK cells, granulocytes and macrophages that play a role in the tumor destruction process as well.