title: Application of polymeric nanoparticles in immunotherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the present review is to underline the importance of nanoparticulate carriers, such as polymeric nanoparticles, in the future development of safe and effective formulation in the field of immunotherapy against infectious diseases and cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Polymeric nanoparticles can modulate the immune response, that is, by targeting antigens to dendritic cells that possess a crucial role in initiating immune responses, and might be potentially useful in immunotherapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the last decades, significant progress in research and clinics has been made to offer possible innovative therapeutics for the management of infectious diseases and cancer. Polymeric nanoparticles are particularly adept at facilitating immunotherapeutic approaches because they can be engineered to have different physical properties, encapsulated agents, and surface ligands. Moreover, these systems are administrable for all routes, are capable of being actively taken up by dendritic cells and have shown promising potential in systemic and mucosal immunotherapy. Here, some recent findings on these systems, in their potential applications for infectious and cancer immunotherapy, are reported.
authors.affiliation: Lab of Biocompatible Polymers, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolari e Biomolecolari, Università di Palermo bIstituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati UOS di Palermo-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuela Fabiola
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Craparo
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bondì
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011108:Polymers / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers