Nanovaccine halts tumor growth and reduces cancer recurrence in lab models

A research team has developed an approach to significantly reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and metastasis after surgery, by targeting both bulk cancer cells and the elusive cancer stem cells (CSCs) responsible for relapse.

The Nature Nanotechnology study describes a nanovaccine named NICER (Nanovesicle Integrating CSC-specific antigen display and epigenetic nano-regulator encapsulation), which delivers a dual blow to cancer: eradicating both the main tumor mass and the residual CSCs post-surgery.

What makes cancer recurrence especially problematic is the presence of CSCs—a small but powerful subset of cells within a tumor. „This nanovaccine approach is especially exciting because it tackles one of the biggest hurdles in cancer therapy – the ability of stem-like tumor cells to cause cancer relapse. Our results show that our nanovaccine not only activates the immune system to attack these cells, but also creates lasting memory to help prevent the cancer from returning.“

"In laboratory models which included breast cancer, melanoma, and highly invasive CSC-enriched tumors, NICER not only halted tumor growth but also reduced recurrence and lung metastasis following surgical tumor removal," said first author Dr. Qing You, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, NUS Medicine.

Image source: You et al. (2025), Nature Nanotechnology.