(Nano) biotechnological approaches in the treatment of cervical cancer - integration of engineering and biology

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Miles

Cervical cancer is a highly malignant gynecological tumor with aggressive behavior and increasing resistance to conventional irradiation, surgery-based approaches, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Recent progress highlights nanomedicine as a strategy to enhance delivery and therapeutic selectivity. This review discusses stimulus-sensitive nanostructures that improve drug release at tumor sites, enable co-delivery of chemotherapy and natural compounds to suppress growth and prevent resistance, and support gene-silencing delivery such as siRNA. It also covers pH- and redox-responsive carriers, photo-thermal and photodynamic therapies, and the promise of nanobiotechnology for tumor immunotherapy, including metal, carbon, lipid, polymer-based systems and hydrogel carriers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Cervical cancer burden and risk factors

Current treatment modalities and therapy resistance

Rationale for nanotechnology

Nanoparticles and stimulus-responsive nanostructures

Drug and natural compound delivery

Gene delivery and siRNA via nanoparticles

pH- and redox-responsive carriers

Therapeutic strategies enabled by nanobiotechnology

Photo-thermal and photodynamic therapy

Applications in tumor immunotherapy

Nanomaterial platforms and delivery systems

Metal-, carbon-, lipid-, and polymer-based nanostructures

Hydrogel carriers

TYPE Review PUBLISHED 13 September 2024 DOI 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1461894 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Gang Tian, Sichuan Province Engineering Technology Research Center of Molecular Diagnosis of Clinical Diseases, China REVIEWED BY Deng Wei, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, China Yuquan Chen, Monash University, Australia *CORRESPONDENCE Zhengmei Xu [xuzhengmei2024@163.com](xuzhengmei2024@163.com) RECEIVED 09 July 2024 ACCEPTED 08 August 2024 PUBLISHED 13 September 2024 CITATION Xie W and Xu Z (2024) (Nano) biotechnological approaches in the treatment of cervical cancer: integration of engineering and biology. Front. Immunol. 15:1461894 . doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1461894 COPYRIGHT © 2024 Xie and Xu. 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) and the copyright owner(s) 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. (Nano)biotechnological approaches in the treatment of cervical cancer: integration of engineering and biology Weimin Xie and Zhengmei Xu* Department of Gynecology, Afﬁliated Hengyang Hospital of Hunan Normal University & Hengyang Central Hospital, Hengyang, China Cervical cancer is one of the most malignant gynaecological tumors characterised with the aggressive behaviour of the tumor cells. In spite of the development of different strategies for the treatment of cervical cancer, the tumor cells have developed resistance to conventional therapeutics. On the other hand, nanoparticles have been recently applied for the treatment of human cancers through delivery of drugs and facilitate tumor suppression. The stimuli-sensitive nanostructures can improve the release of therapeutics at the tumor site. In the present review, the nanostructures for the treatment of cervical cancer are discussed. Nanostructures can deliver both chemotherapy drugs and natural compounds to increase anti-cancer activity and prevent drug resistance in cervical tumor. Moreover, the genetic tools such as siRNA can be delivered by nanoparticles to enhance their accumulation at tumor site. In order to enhance selectivity, the stimuli-responsive nanoparticles such as pH- and redoxresponsive nanocarriers have been developed to suppress cervical tumor. Moreover, nanoparticles can induce photo-thermal and photodynamic therapy to accelerate cell death in cervical tumor. In addition, nanobiotechnology demonstrates tremendous potential in the treatment of cervical cancer, especially in the context of tumor immunotherapy. Overall, metal-, carbon-, lipid-and polymer-based nanostructures have been utilized in cervical cancer therapy. Finally, hydrogels have been developed as novel kinds of carriers to encapsulate therapeutics and improve anti-cancer activity. KEYWORDS cervical cancer, drug delivery, nanoparticles, hydrogels, drug resistance, tumor immunotherapy Frontiers in Immunology 01 [frontiersin.org](frontiersin.org) 1 Introduction Cervical cancer is one of the main challenges for the health of females and it is among the most common tumors (1) . According to the receptor of WHO in 2018, 570,000 females have been diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide and it has caused 311,000 deaths (2–4). Moreover, the number of cervical cancer cases can increase from 570,000 to 700,000 between 2018 and 2030 (2). The incidence rate of cervical cancer is suggested to be increased in low-to-middle-income countries and in these countries, the number of deaths has been shown to be 90% of the 311,000 deaths. In high-risk countries, the incidence rate is 75 per 100,000 females, while it low-risk countries, it is 10 per 100,000 females (2, 5). There are several risk factors for the developm

FAQs

Why is nanobiotechnology considered promising for cervical cancer treatment?

Cervical cancer often shows resistance to radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Nanoparticles can improve delivery to tumor sites and enhance therapeutic selectivity, helping address resistance and treatment limitations.

How do stimulus-sensitive nanoparticles help improve therapy effectiveness?

Stimuli-responsive nanostructures are designed to release therapeutics preferentially at the tumor site, which can increase anti-cancer activity and reduce ineffective drug exposure elsewhere.

What types of therapies can nanoparticles support in cervical cancer?

The review describes chemotherapy and natural compound delivery, siRNA-mediated genetic tools, pH- and redox-responsive drug carriers, as well as photo-thermal and photodynamic therapy, along with applications in tumor immunotherapy.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Miles