Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a promising strategy for the treatment of many forms of cancer by stimulating body's own immune system. This therapy not only eradicates tumor cells by inducing strong anti-tumor immune response but also prevent their recurrence. The clinical cancer immunotherapy faces some insurmountable challenges including high immune-mediated toxicity, lack of effective and targeted delivery of cancer antigens to immune cells and off-target side effects. However, nanotechnology offers some solutions to overcome those limitations, and thus can potentiate the efficacy of immunotherapy. This review focuses on the advancement of nanoparticle-mediated delivery of immunostimulating agents for efficient cancer immunotherapy. Here we have outlined the use of the immunostimulatory nanoparticles as a smart carrier for effective delivery of cancer antigens and adjuvants, type of interactions between nanoparticles and the antigen/adjuvant as well as the factors controlling the interaction between nanoparticles and the receptors on antigen presenting cells. Besides, the role of nanoparticles in targeting/activating immune cells and modulating the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment has also been discussed extensively. Finally, we have summarized some theranostic applications of the immunomodulatory nanomaterials in treating cancers based on the earlier published reports.

癌症免疫疗法已成为通过刺激人体自身免疫系统来治疗多种癌症的有前景的策略。这种疗法不仅可以通过诱导强烈的抗肿瘤免疫反应来消灭肿瘤细胞，还可以防止其复发。临床癌症免疫治疗面临一些难以克服的挑战，包括免疫介导的高毒性、缺乏有效、靶向地将癌症抗原递送至免疫细胞以及脱靶副作用等。然而，纳米技术提供了一些解决方案来克服这些限制，从而可以增强免疫疗法的功效。本综述重点关注纳米颗粒介导的免疫刺激剂递送的进展，以实现有效的癌症免疫治疗。在这里，我们概述了免疫刺激纳米颗粒作为有效递送癌症抗原和佐剂的智能载体的用途、纳米颗粒与抗原/佐剂之间相互作用的类型以及控制纳米颗粒与抗原呈递细胞上的受体之间相互作用的因素。此外，纳米颗粒在靶向/激活免疫细胞和调节免疫抑制肿瘤微环境中的作用也得到了广泛的讨论。最后，我们根据早期发表的报告总结了免疫调节纳米材料在治疗癌症中的一些治疗诊断应用。