Next generation of cytokine engineering for cancer immunotherapies

Cytokines are integral to regulating immune responses and hold significant promise as therapeutic agents for various immune-related disorders, including cancer.

Their use, however, has been limited by challenges such as their rapid removal from the bloodstream and significant side effects stemming from inadequate targeting and distribution in the body.

Despite these challenges, recent advances in the field of bioengineering have allowed for enhanced comprehension and modification of cytokine functions. These advancements have enabled the successful clinical application of modified IL-2 and IL-15 cytokines in cancer therapeutics.

Nevertheless, there is a pressing need to further overcome existing barriers to fully harness the therapeutic potential of cytokines.

This Research Topic aims to build on the historical success of cytokine therapies by addressing critical limitations such as short blood half-life, severe side effects, and issues with targeted delivery.

It seeks to review over 130 clinical strategies involving next-generation cytokines currently being evaluated in early trials for cancer and autoimmune conditions. It also aims to critically assess new technologies in cytokine engineering, including AI-guided design, prodrugs, masking techniques, synthetic biology innovations, mRNA-based delivery systems, and CAR-T cell-based delivery methods.

To gather further insights within the realm of cytokine engineering and its application for cancer therapies, we welcome articles that address, but are not limited to the following themes:

- Innovations in immunocytokine strategies for cancer treatment.

- AI-based methodologies in designing cytokines specifically for cancer therapies.

- Development and implementation of CAR-T cell-based cytokine delivery systems.

- Exploration and evaluation of mRNA-based strategies for delivering cytokines.

- Utilization of antibodies or mimetics to expertly target cytokine receptors.

We encourage the submission of various article types, including Original Research, Review, Mini-Review, and Perspective articles, among others.

Topic Editor Dr. Shashankkumar Jitendra Patel declares to be working for the private biotechnology company Georgiamune.


Topic Editor Dr. Madhusudhanan Sukumar declares to be an employee of Johnson and Johnson, as well as holding shares of Johnson and Johnson company and having filed several patents.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Cytokine engineering, Cytokine mimetics, Antibody-cytokine conjugates, Next-generation cytokines, Immunocytokines, IL-2 and IL-15 modification, mRNA-based cytokine delivery, CAR-T cytokine delivery

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.