Emerging Technologies in Cancer Treatment: Advances in Gene Therapy, Immunotherapy, Nanomedicine, and Precision Oncology

Abstract

Cancer treatment has advanced substantially with the development of molecularly targeted and immune-based approaches that aim to improve therapeutic selectivity and reduce treatment-related toxicity. This review summarises selected emerging technologies in cancer treatment, including gene therapy, CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing, cellular immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibition, cancer vaccines, oncolytic viruses, nanozyme-based approaches, nanomedicine, clinical sequencing, proteomics, and proteolysis-targeting chimeras. Gene therapy and genome-editing platforms provide opportunities to modify cancer-associated genetic alterations, although delivery efficiency, off-target effects, safety, and clinical translation remain important challenges. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy has shown substantial clinical value in selected haematological malignancies, whereas its application in solid tumours remains limited by antigen heterogeneity, poor trafficking, immune suppression, and toxicity. Immune checkpoint inhibitors and combination immunotherapy have improved outcomes in several cancers, but response rates vary across tumour types and patient groups. Nanomedicine and nanozyme-based systems may improve drug delivery, tumour targeting, imaging, and modulation of the tumour microenvironment, although many applications remain under preclinical or early clinical evaluation. Proteomic profiling, gene panel testing, and next-generation sequencing support biomarker discovery and precision oncology by identifying molecular alterations that may guide diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy selection. Proteolysis-targeting chimeras represent a developing strategy for the selective degradation of disease-associated proteins, including proteins that are difficult to inhibit using conventional approaches. Overall, these technologies are contributing to a shift towards more individualised and multimodal cancer care. Further validation, standardisation, safety assessment, cost consideration, and carefully designed clinical trials are required before many of these approaches can be widely implemented.