K. H. Kim

Although the promise of cancer immunotherapy has been partially fulfilled with the unprecedented clinical success of several immunotherapeutic interventions, some issues, such as limited response rate and immunotoxicity, still remain. Metalloimmunotherapy offers a new form of cancer immunotherapy that utilizes the inherent immunomodulatory features of metal ions to enhance anticancer immune responses. Their versatile functionalities for a multitude of direct and indirect anticancer activities together with their inherent biocompatibility suggest that metal ions can help overcome the current issues associated with cancer immunotherapy. However, metal ions exhibit poor drug-like properties due to their intrinsic physicochemical profiles that impede in vivo pharmacological performance, thus necessitating an effective pharmaceutical formulation strategy to improve their in vivo behavior. Metal-based nanoparticles provide a promising platform technology for reshaping metal ions into more drug-like formulations with nano-enabled engineering approaches. This review provides a general overview of cancer immunotherapy, the immune system and how it works against cancer cells, and the role of metal ions in the host response and immune modulation, as well as the impact of metal ions on the process via the regulation of immune cells. The preclinical studies that have demonstrated the potential of metal-based nanoparticles for cancer metalloimmunotherapy are presented for the representative nanoparticles constructed with manganese, zinc, iron, copper, calcium, and sodium ions. Lastly, the perspectives and future directions of metal-based nanoparticles are discussed, particularly with respect to their clinical applications.

We report on the results of our work on the fabrication of a hybrid electrical-optical printed circuit board (EOPCB) by lamination of an optical printed circuit board (O-PCB) and an electrical printed circuit board (EPCB). This is a part of our work on the micro/nano-scale design, fabrication and integration of optical waveguide arrays and devices for optical printed circuit board (O-PCBs) and VLSI micro/nano-photonic integrated circuit application. The integrated circuit layers form the O-PCB, which is to perform the functions of transporting, switching, routing and distributing optical signals on flat modular boards. The OPCBs consist of an optical layer containing planar circuits and arrays of waveguides and photonic devices of various dimensions and characteristics and an electrical layer containing electrical circuits of various functions. Here, we laminate the two layers to form an O-PCB. The advantages include the processing simplification, cost reduction, fabrication of compact devices, and reduction of alignment problem among others. The VLSI micro/nano-photonic integrated circuits perform similar functions on a chip scale. We describe the lamination process and examine the characteristics of the laminated EO-PCBs.