Targeting activation of cGAS-STING signaling pathway by engineered biomaterials for enhancing cancer immunotherapy

Immunotherapy that harnesses the specificity of the patients’ immune system to heighten natural defenses against tumors has become one of the most attractive strategies in cancer therapy. Currently, the majority of immunotherapies mainly focused on encouraging the adaptive offshoot of the immune systems. Nevertheless, it is increasingly recognized that both the innate and adaptive immune offshoots need to be involved to motivate optimal antitumor immunity. Among them, the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-stimulator of interferon genes (cGAS-STING) signaling pathway is vitally important for activating innate and adaptive antitumor immunity. Ongoing research related to the cGAS-STING signaling pathway mediated immunotherapies have testified their advantages in preventing cancer progression and achieving favorable clinical outcomes. In this review, we systematically elaborated the synopsis of the cGAS-STING signaling pathway as well as involved immunological effects in cancer immune cycle, and thoroughly overviewed the summary of chemical or engineering strategies to heighten the potential application of the cGAS-STING signaling pathway-related agonists. Meanwhile, the highlight advances of engineered biomaterials-mediated different strategies-guided the cGAS-STING signaling pathway activation for antitumor immunotherapy are summarized in detail. Moreover, the critical challenges and future research direction of the cGAS-STING signaling pathway-mediated cancer immunotherapeutic strategy are also discussed.