Lipid-based delivery of CpG oligonucleotides enhances immunotherapeutic efficacy

There has been significant interest in the potential of cytosine–guanine (CpG) containing oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) as an immunotherapy for malignant, infectious and allergic diseases. While human trials have yielded promising results, clinical use of free CpG ODN still faces several challenges which limit their effectiveness. These include suboptimal in vivo stability, toxicity, unfavorable pharmacokinetic/biodistribution characteristics, lack of specificity for target cells and the requirement for intracellular uptake. To overcome these challenges, optimized lipid-based delivery systems have been developed to protect the CpG ODN payload, modify their circulation/distribution so as to enhance immune cell targeting and facilitate intracellular uptake. Ultimately, lipid-mediated delivery has the capacity to increase the immunopotency of CpG ODN and enhance their prophylactic or therapeutic efficacy in a range of diseases. Lipid-encapsulation provides a feasible strategy to optimize the immunostimulatory activity and immunotherapeutic efficacy of CpG ODN, thereby allowing their full clinical potential to be realized.