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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Med.

Sec. Gene and Cell Therapy

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1655693

This article is part of the Research TopicInnovations and Challenges in Gene and Cell Therapy: From Bench to BedsideView all articles

Clinical trials of nanoparticle-enhanced CAR-T and NK cell therapies in oncology: overcoming translational and clinical challenges -a mini review

Provisionally accepted
Xiaoqian  ZhaoXiaoqian Zhao1Jian  XiongJian Xiong2*Danyang  LiDanyang Li3*Ying  ZhangYing Zhang1*
  • 1The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
  • 2Guangzhou Medical University Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, China
  • 3Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell therapeutic approaches have significantly reshaped the immuno-oncology domain for hematological malignancies. These approaches have sustained therapeutic results in patients with treatment-resistant disease and exhibited robust therapeutic efficacy. However, poor immune cell trafficking, tumor-induced immune suppression, and complex ex vivo modification limit their clinical application in solid tumors. The application of nanotechnology has transformed efforts to overcome these limitations by promoting in vivo expression of CARs, enabling tumor-selective immunomodulation, and allowing site-specific dynamic cytokine modulation. This mini review provides critical valuations of the current clinical trials, focusing on the regulatory challenges, design rationale, and translational advances. This article highlights ongoing challenges, recent developments, and future directions for the clinical translation of advanced immunotherapeutic strategies.

Keywords: car-t, CAR-NK, cell-engineering, clinical trials, Immunotherapy

Received: 28 Jun 2025; Accepted: 24 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Xiong, Li and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Jian Xiong, Guangzhou Medical University Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, China
Danyang Li, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Ying Zhang, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China

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