Recent Progress in the Synergistic Combination of Nanoparticle‐Mediated Hyperthermia and Immunotherapy for Treatment of Cancer

Immunotherapy has demonstrated great clinical success in certain cancers, driven primarily by immune checkpoint blockade and adoptive cell therapies. Immunotherapy can elicit strong, durable responses in some patients, but others do not respond, and to date immunotherapy has demonstrated success in only a limited number of cancers. To address this limitation, combinatorial approaches with chemo‐ and radiotherapy have been applied in the clinic. Extensive preclinical evidence suggests that hyperthermia therapy (HT) has considerable potential to augment immunotherapy with minimal toxicity. This progress report will provide a brief overview of immunotherapy and HT approaches and highlight recent progress in the application of nanoparticle (NP)‐based HT in combination with immunotherapy. NPs allow for tumor‐specific targeting of deep tissue tumors while potentially providing more even heating. NP‐based HT increases tumor immunogenicity and tumor permeability, which improves immune cell infiltration and creates an environment more responsive to immunotherapy, particularly in solid tumors. Nanoparticle (NP)‐based hyperthermia therapy (HT) demonstrates significant potential as an adjuvant to immunotherapy. NP‐based HT allows for tumor‐specific targeting of deep tissue tumors while providing even heating to address limitations of clinical HT. NP‐based HT can increase tumor immunogenicity and tumor permeability, creating an environment that is more responsive to immunotherapy through improved immune cell activation and infiltration.