Intranasal nano-immunotherapy for glioma: bypassing the blood–brain barrier, reprogramming the immune microenvironment, and bridging preclinical validation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Glioma, particularly glioblastoma, remains difficult to treat because of limited drug penetration across the blood–brain barrier, profound immune suppression, and insufficient intracranial exposure of systemic immunotherapies. Intranasal nano-immunotherapy is being explored as a potential strategy that may integrate noninvasive nose-to-brain delivery with nanocarrier-mediated immune reprogramming. Intranasal administration may partially bypass conventional vascular barriers through olfactory, trigeminal, mucosal, cerebrospinal-fluid, and perivascular transport routes, while nanoparticles are designed to protect immune-active payloads, support brain tumor targeting, and enable controlled release. Current evidence spans three distinct levels: direct intranasal glioma nano-immunotherapy, intranasal glioma nanodelivery without demonstrated immune reprogramming, and non-intranasal glioma nano-immunotherapy that provides mechanistic support for future intranasal adaptation. Across these evidence levels, investigated platforms include peptide-guided nanomicelles, lipid nanoparticles, biomimetic nanoparticles, ferritin-based nanovectors, spherical nucleic acids, extracellular vesicles, bacterial outer membrane vesicles, and stimuli-responsive systems. These platforms can deliver immune-activating cargos, such as STING or TLR agonists; gene-regulatory cargos, such as siRNA and CRISPR-Cas9 components; and microenvironment-modulating cargos, such as chemokine-axis inhibitors, checkpoint-modulating agents, and combination payloads. Through these payloads, intranasal nanoplatforms may activate innate immune sensing, reverse myeloid-mediated suppression, enhance T-cell infiltration, and induce immunogenic cell death. However, translation remains limited by dosing uncertainty, species differences in nasal anatomy, mucosal and neurological safety concerns, manufacturing complexity, and incomplete immune pharmacodynamic validation. This review summarizes recent advances in intranasal and brain-targeted glioma nano-immunotherapy, highlights key immune mechanisms, and proposes a preclinical validation framework for evaluating whether experimental efficacy can be advanced toward clinically testable treatment designs.
Source: Frontiers in Immunology
Language: English
Subfield: Biomaterials
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7223020710