Nab-paclitaxel promotes the cancer-immunity cycle as a potential immunomodulator

Paclitaxel is a widely used anti-tumor chemotherapeuticdrug. Solvent-based paclitaxel causes bone marrow suppression, allergicreactions, neurotoxicity and systemic toxicity, which are associated withnon-specific cytotoxicity and side effects of fat-soluble solvents. Studieshave explored various new nano-drug strategies of paclitaxel, includingnanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel) to improve the watersolubility and safety of paclitaxel. Nab-paclitaxel is a targeted solvent-freeformulation that inhibits microtubule depolymerization to anticancer. It iseasily taken up by tumor and immune cells owing to the nano-scaled size andsuperior biocompatibility. The internalized nab-paclitaxel exhibits significantimmunostimulatory activities to promote cancer-immunity cycle. The aim of thisstudy was to explore the synergistic effect of nab-paclitaxel in tumor antigenpresentation, T cell activation, reversing the immunosuppressive pattern oftumor microenvironment (TME), and the synergistic effect with cytotoxiclymphocytes (CTLs) in clearance of tumor cells. The effects of nab-paclitaxelon modulation of cancer-immunity cycle, provides potential avenues for combinedtherapeutic rationale to improve efficacy of immunotherapy.