Photothermal Therapy Promotes Tumor Infiltration and Antitumor Activity of CAR T Cells

Tumor size-dependent abscopal effect of polydopamine-coated all-in-one nanoparticles for immunochemo-photothermal therapy of early- and late-stage metastatic cancer

Metastatic cancer is a persistent clinical enigma, which requires combination of several treatment modules. Here, we developed an all-in-one nanomedicine strategy to systemically co-deliver photosensitive, chemotherapeutic, and immunomodulating agents for effective immunochemo-photothermal therapy (PTT) to inhibit both primary tumor and distal metastatic tumor. Two types of polydopamine (dp)-coated nanoparticles (NPs) (N/PGEM/dp-5 and N/PGEM/dp-16) co-loaded with gemcitabine (GEM) and NLG919, a potent indoleamine-2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO) inhibitor, were prepared. N/PGEM/dp-16 NPs with a thicker dp coating layer showed higher photothermal conversion ability, more favorable biodistribution profile and better tumor inhibition effect compared to N/PGEM/dp-5 NPs with a thinner coating layer. Combination with laser irradiation further enhanced the tumor inhibition effect of N/PGEM/dp-16 NPs. In an "early metastatic" pancreatic cancer PANC02 model with small distal tumors, introduction of NLG and dp coating improved the inhibition effect on both primary and distal tumors. Compared to N/PGEM/dp-16, N/PGEM/dp-16 plus laser irradiation further enhanced the inhibition effect on primary tumor, but didn't improve the abscopal antitumor effect. When the initial volume of distal tumor was sufficiently large in a "late metastasis" model, a more dramatic abscopal antitumor effect was achieved, resulting in a significant growth inhibition of both primary tumor and the unirradiated distal tumor. Furthermore, laser irradiation can amplify the immunochemo-NPs-mediated innate and adaptive immune responses in both tumors. This work demonstrated a distal tumor-size dependent abscopal effect, and provided a perspective for future design of more effective immunochemo-PTT nano-formulations for early- and late-stage metastatic tumors.

Fighting Immune Cold and Reprogramming Immunosuppressive Tumor Microenvironment with Red Blood Cell Membrane-Camouflaged Nanobullets

Nanomedicine, acting as the magic bullet, is capable of combining immunotherapy with other treatments to reverse a cold tumor (immune depletion) into a hot tumor. However, how to comprehensively inhibit the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) remains a major challenge for immunotherapy to achieve the maximum benefits. Thus, a strategy that can simultaneously increase the recruitment of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and comprehensively reprogram the immunosuppressive TME is still urgently needed. Herein, a thermal-sensitive nitric oxide (NO) donor S-nitrosothiols (SNO)-pendant copolymer (poly(acrylamide-co-acrylonitrile-co-vinylimidazole)-SNO copolymer, PAAV-SNO) with upper critical solution temperature (UCST) was synthesized and employed to fabricate an erythrocyte membrane-camouflaged nanobullet for codelivery of NIR II photothermal agent IR1061 and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO-1) inhibitor 1-methyl-tryptophan (1-MT). This multifunctional nanobullet possessed long circulation in vivo, enhanced accumulation at the tumor site, and therapeutics-controlled release by NIR II laser, thereby it could avoid unspecific drug leakage while enhancing biosecurity. More importantly, the immunogenic cell death (ICD) induced by local hyperthermia from photothermal therapy (PTT) could be conducive for the increased recruitment of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) at the tumor site. Furthermore, through interfering in the IDO-1 activity by 1-MT and normalizing the tumor vessels by in situ generated NO, the immunosuppressive TME was comprehensively reprogrammed toward an immunostimulatory phenotype, achieving the excellent therapeutic efficacy against both primary breast cancer and metastases. Collectively, this multifunctional nanobullet described in this study developed an effective and promising strategy to comprehensively reprogram suppressive TME and treat "immune cold" tumors.

Anti-Cancer Nanomedicines: A Revolution of Tumor Immunotherapy

Immunotherapies have been accelerating the development of anti-cancer clinical treatment, but its low objective responses and severe off-target immune-related adverse events (irAEs) limit the range of application. Strategies to remove these obstacles primarily focus on the combination of different therapies and the exploitation of new immunotherapeutic agents. Nanomedicine potentiates the effects of activating immune cells selectively and reversing tumor induced immune deficiency microenvironment through multiple mechanisms. In the last decade, a variety of nano-enabled tumor immunotherapies was under clinical investigation. As time goes by, the advantages of nanomedicine are increasingly prominent. With the continuous development of nanotechnology, nanomedicine will offer more distinctive perspectives in imaging diagnosis and treatment of tumors. In this Review, we wish to provide an overview of tumor immunotherapy and the mechanisms of nanomaterials that aim to enhance the efficacy of tumor immunotherapy under development or in clinic treatment.

Engineering precision nanoparticles for drug delivery

In recent years, the development of nanoparticles has expanded into a broad range of clinical applications. Nanoparticles have been developed to overcome the limitations of free therapeutics and navigate biological barriers — systemic, microenvironmental and cellular — that are heterogeneous across patient populations and diseases. Overcoming this patient heterogeneity has also been accomplished through precision therapeutics, in which personalized interventions have enhanced therapeutic efficacy. However, nanoparticle development continues to focus on optimizing delivery platforms with a one-size-fits-all solution. As lipid-based, polymeric and inorganic nanoparticles are engineered in increasingly specified ways, they can begin to be optimized for drug delivery in a more personalized manner, entering the era of precision medicine. In this Review, we discuss advanced nanoparticle designs utilized in both non-personalized and precision applications that could be applied to improve precision therapies. We focus on advances in nanoparticle design that overcome heterogeneous barriers to delivery, arguing that intelligent nanoparticle design can improve efficacy in general delivery applications while enabling tailored designs for precision applications, thereby ultimately improving patient outcome overall.

Advances in nanoparticle design could make substantial contributions to personalized and non-personalized medicine. In this Review, Langer, Mitchell, Peppas and colleagues discuss advances in nanoparticle design that overcome heterogeneous barriers to delivery, as well as the challenges in translating these design improvements into personalized medicine approaches.

An Intelligent Biomimetic Nanoplatform for Holistic Treatment of Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer via Photothermal Ablation and Immune Remodeling

Metastasis is one of the main causes of failure in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Immunotherapy brings hope and opportunity to solve this challenge, while its clinical applications are greatly inhibited by the tumor immunosuppressive environment. Here, an intelligent biomimetic nanoplatform was designed based on dendritic large-pore mesoporous silica nanoparticles (DLMSNs) for suppressing metastatic TNBC by combining photothermal ablation and immune remodeling. Taking advantage of the ordered large-pore structure and easily chemically modified property of DLMSNs, the copper sulfide (CuS) nanoparticles with high photothermal conversion efficiency were in situ deposited inside the large pores of DLMSNs, and the immune adjuvant resiquimod (R848) was loaded controllably. A homogenous cancer cell membrane was coated on the surfaces of these DLMSNs, followed by conjugation with the anti-PD-1 peptide AUNP-12 through a polyethylene glycol linker with an acid-labile benzoic-imine bond. The thus-obtained AM@DLMSN@CuS/R848 was applied to holistically treat metastatic TNBC in vitro and in vivo. The data showed that AM@DLMSN@CuS/R848 had a high TNBC-targeting ability and induced efficient photothermal ablation on primary TNBC tumors under 980 nm laser irradiation. Tumor antigens thus generated and increasingly released R848 by response to the photothermal effect, combined with AUNP-12 detached from AM@DLMSN@CuS/R848 in the weakly acidic tumor microenvironment, synergistically exerted tumor vaccination, and T lymphocyte activation functions on immune remodeling to prevent TNBC recurrence and metastasis. Taken together, this study provides an intelligent biomimetic nanoplatform to enhance therapeutic outcomes in metastatic TNBC.

A robust hybrid nanozyme@hydrogel platform as a biomimetic cascade bioreactor for combination antitumor therapy

The development of highly effective and minimally invasive approaches for cancer treatment is the ultimate goal. Herein, an injectable hybrid hydrogel as a biomimetic cascade bioreactor is designed for combination antitumor therapy by providing spatiotemporally-controlled and long-term delivery of therapeutic agents. This hybrid nanozyme@hydrogel (hPB@gellan) is doped with Prussian blue (PB) nanoparticles via the in situ nanoprecipitation method in the polysaccharide gellan matrix. The obtained PB nanoparticles have a small size of 10 nm and play dual roles as a photothermal agent with a photothermal conversion efficiency of 59.6% and as a nanozyme to decompose hydrogen peroxide into oxygen. By incorporating glucose oxidase (GOD) into the hybrid hydrogel, a cascade bioreactor is formed for PB-promoted glucose consumption. Owing to its shear-thinning and self-recovery properties, the hybrid hydrogel is locally administered into tumors, and shows long-term resistance against body clearance and metabolism. The in vivo antitumor results demonstrate that the tumors in the group of combined photothermal and starvation therapy (GOD/hPB@gellan + NIR) are greatly eliminated with a tumor suppression rate of 99.7% 22 days after the treatment. The outstanding antitumor performance is attributed to the main attack by NIR-triggered hyperthermia and the holding attack by GOD-mediated starvation from the catalytic bioreactor of the hybrid hydrogel. Taking into consideration the advantages of biosafety, simple synthetic approaches and facile manipulation in treatment, the hybrid hydrogel has great potential for clinical translation.

Engineering in Medicine To Address the Challenge of Cancer Drug Resistance: From Micro- and Nanotechnologies to Computational and Mathematical Modeling

Drug resistance has profoundly limited the success of cancer treatment, driving relapse, metastasis, and mortality. Nearly all anticancer drugs and even novel immunotherapies, which recalibrate the immune system for tumor recognition and destruction, have succumbed to resistance development. Engineers have emerged across mechanical, physical, chemical, mathematical, and biological disciplines to address the challenge of drug resistance using a combination of interdisciplinary tools and skill sets. This review explores the developing, complex, and under-recognized role of engineering in medicine to address the multitude of challenges in cancer drug resistance. Looking through the "lens" of intrinsic, extrinsic, and drug-induced resistance (also referred to as "tolerance"), we will discuss three specific areas where active innovation is driving novel treatment paradigms: (1) nanotechnology, which has revolutionized drug delivery in desmoplastic tissues, harnessing physiochemical characteristics to destroy tumors through photothermal therapy and rationally designed nanostructures to circumvent cancer immunotherapy failures, (2) bioengineered tumor models, which have benefitted from microfluidics and mechanical engineering, creating a paradigm shift in physiologically relevant environments to predict clinical refractoriness and enabling platforms for screening drug combinations to thwart resistance at the individual patient level, and (3) computational and mathematical modeling, which blends in silico simulations with molecular and evolutionary principles to map mutational patterns and model interactions between cells that promote resistance. On the basis that engineering in medicine has resulted in discoveries in resistance biology and successfully translated to clinical strategies that improve outcomes, we suggest the proliferation of multidisciplinary science that embraces engineering.

Carbon nanocage-based nanozyme as an endogenous H2O2-activated oxygenerator for real-time bimodal imaging and enhanced phototherapy of esophageal cancer

Intelligent phototherapy by theranostic nanosystems that can be activated by a tumor microenvironment has high sensitivity and specificity. However, hypoxia and low drug accumulation in tumors greatly limit its clinical application. Herein, we have designed a cage-like carbon-manganese nanozyme, which effectively relieves tumor hypoxia and delivers numerous photosensitizers (PSs) to the tumor site, for real-time imaging and enhanced phototherapy of esophageal cancer. Specifically, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as a template and reducing agent for preparing a BSA-MnO2 nanozyme; then a BSA-MnO2/IR820@OCNC (BMIOC) nanosystem was successfully synthesized by crosslinking BSA-MnO2 on the surface of IR820-loaded carboxylated carbon nanocages (OCNCs). Abundant PSs were successfully delivered to tumor sites via hollow OCNCs, and the final loading rate of IR820 reached 42.8%. The intratumor BMIOC nanosystem can be initiated by a tumor microenvironment to switch on its magnetic resonance (MR) imaging signal, and photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) functions. Notably, the BSA-MnO2 nanozyme, with intrinsic catalase (CAT)-like activity, catalyzed endogenous H2O2 for oxygen generation to overcome tumor hypoxia and enhance PDT, thereby leading to more efficient therapeutic effects in combination with OCNC-elevated PTT. In addition, the H2O2-activated and acid-enhanced properties enable our nanosystem to be specific to tumors, protecting normal tissues from damage. By integrating a high drug loading capacity, a hypoxia regulation function, an enlarged phototherapy effect, and bimodal imaging into a nanozyme-mediated nanoreactor, this work realizes a "one for all" system and represents promising clinical translation for efficient esophageal cancer theranostics.

Mitochondria-Targeting Oxygen-Sufficient Perfluorocarbon Nanoparticles for Imaging-Guided Tumor Phototherapy

Background

Although photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamics therapy (PDT) have both made excellent progress in tumor therapy, the effectiveness of using PTT or PDT alone is dissatisfactory due to the limitations of the penetration depth in PTT and the hypoxic microenvironment of tumors for PDT. Combination phototherapy has currently become a burgeoning cancer treatment.

Methods and Materials

In this work, a mitochondria-targeting liquid perfluorocarbon (PFC)-based oxygen delivery system was developed for the synergistic PDT/photothermal therapy (PTT) of cancer through image guiding.

Results

Importantly, these nanoparticles (NPs) can effectively and accurately accumulate in the target tumor via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect.

Conclusion

This approach offers a novel technique to achieve outstanding antitumor efficacy by an unprecedented design with tumor mitochondria targeting, oxygen delivery, and synergistic PDT/PTT with dual-imaging guidance.

Artificial Metalloprotein Nanoanalogues: In Situ Catalytic Production of Oxygen to Enhance Photoimmunotherapeutic Inhibition of Primary and Abscopal Tumor Growth

Photoimmunotherapy (PIT) has shown enormous potential in not only eliminating primary tumors, but also inhibiting abscopal tumor growth. However, the efficacy of PIT is greatly limited by tumor hypoxia, which causes the attenuation of phototherapeutic efficacy and is a feature of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). In this study, one type of brand-new artificial metalloprotein nanoanalogues is developed via reasonable integration of a "phototherapy-enzymatic" RuO₂ and a model antigen, ovalbumin (OVA) for enhanced PIT of cancers, namely, RuO₂ -hybridized OVA nanoanalogues (RuO₂ @OVA NAs). The RuO₂ @OVA NAs exhibit remarkable photothermal/photodynamic capabilities under the near-infrared light irradiation. More importantly, the photoacoustic imaging and immunofluorescence staining confirm that RuO₂ @OVA NAs can remarkably alleviate hypoxia via in situ catalysis of hydrogen peroxide overexpressed in the TME to produce oxygen (O₂ ). This ushers a prospect of concurrently enhancing photodynamic therapy and reversing the immunosuppressive TME. Also, OVA, as a supplement to the immune stimulation induced by phototherapy, can activate immune responses. Finally, further combination with the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 checkpoint blockade is reported to effectively eliminate the primary tumor and inhibit distant tumor growth via the abscopal effect of antitumor immune responses, prolonging the survival.

Immunogenic exosome-encapsulated black phosphorus nanoparticles as an effective anticancer photo-nanovaccine

Tumor vaccines are a promising form of cancer immunotherapy, but difficulties such as neo-antigen identification, activation of immune cells, and tumor infiltration prevent their clinical breakthrough. Interestingly, nanotechnology-based photothermal therapy (PTT) has great potential to overcome these barriers. Previous studies have shown that serum exosomes (hEX) from hyperthermia-treated tumor-bearing mice displayed an array of patient-specific tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), and strong immunoregulatory abilities in promoting dendritic cell (DC) differentiation and maturation. Here, we developed a tumor vaccine (hEX@BP) by encapsulating black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) with exosomes (hEX) against a murine subcutaneous lung cancer model. In comparison with BPQDs alone (BP), hEX@BP demonstrated better long-term PTT performance, greater elevation of tumor temperature and tumor targeting efficacy in vivo. Vaccination with hEX@BP in combination with PTT further demonstrated an outstanding therapeutic efficacy against established lung cancer, and promoted the infiltration of T lymphocytes into the tumor tissue. Our findings demonstrated that hEX@BP might be an innovative cancer photo-nanovaccine that offers effective immuno-PTT against cancers.

A Metal-Polymer Hybrid Biomimetic System for use in the Chemodynamic-Enhanced Photothermal Therapy of Cancers

This article reports the fabrication of a smart biomimetic enzyme system, which incorporates a pH-responsive chemodynamic therapy (CDT) combined with a photothermal (PTT) therapy approach in resolving the high recurrence rate of deadly cancers. The resulting enzyme system comprises copper sulfide (CuS) nanoparticle (NP) cores as Fenton-like catalysts, and a photothermal-active generation 5 poly(amidoamine) (G5) dendrimer as a template for the entrapment of Cu NPs and the compression of glucose oxidase (GOD). GOD is introduced to produce H₂ O₂ necessary in the sequential Fenton-like reaction, and this generates hydroxyl radicals that kill the cancerous cells. Polyethylene glycol is added to the system to improve biocompatibility. Mechanism study suggests that the constructed CuS/G5-GOD-based system has a better Fenton-like catalytic activity than a Fe₃ O₄ -GOD-based system. This allows the further inhibition on the residual tumors from recurrence and metastasis through CDT after being treated by PTT. The developed smart nanoscale biomimetic system shows high efficiency for breast cancer suppression from recurrence and metastasis by combining PTT with a pH-responsive CDT. It has the potential to resolve the essential issue of cancer recurrence after its initial clinic treatment.

Independent Tuning of Nano-Ligand Frequency and Sequences Regulates the Adhesion and Differentiation of Stem Cells

The native extracellular matrix (ECM) can exhibit heterogeneous nano-sequences periodically displaying ligands to regulate complex cell-material interactions in vivo. Herein, an ECM-emulating heterogeneous barcoding system, including ligand-bearing Au and ligand-free Fe nano-segments, is developed to independently present tunable frequency and sequences in nano-segments of cell-adhesive RGD ligand. Specifically, similar exposed surface areas of total Fe and Au nano-segments are designed. Fe segments are used for substrate coupling of nanobarcodes and as ligand-free nano-segments and Au segments for ligand coating while maintaining both nanoscale (local) and macroscale (total) ligand density constant in all groups. Low nano-ligand frequency in the same sequences and terminally sequenced nano-ligands at the same frequency independently facilitate focal adhesion and mechanosensing of stem cells, which are collectively effective both in vitro and in vivo, thereby inducing stem cell differentiation. The Fe/RGD-Au nanobarcode implants exhibit high stability and no local and systemic toxicity in various tissues and organs in vivo. This work sheds novel insight into designing biomaterials with heterogeneous nano-ligand sequences at terminal sides and/or low frequency to facilitate cellular adhesion. Tuning the electrodeposition conditions can allow synthesis of unlimited combinations of ligand nano-sequences and frequencies, magnetic elements, and bioactive ligands to remotely regulate numerous host cells in vivo.

Near-Infrared Hypocrellin Derivatives for Synergistic Photodynamic and Photothermal Therapy

Hypocrellin B (HB) derived from naturally produced hypocrellins has attracted considerable attention in photodynamic therapy (PDT) because of its excellent photosensitive properties. However, the weak absorption within a "phototherapy window" (600-900 nm) and poor water solubility of HB have limited its clinical application. In this study, two HB derivatives (i. e., HE and HF) were designed and synthesized for the first time by introducing two different substituent groups into the HB structure. The obtained derivatives showed a broad absorption band covering the near-infrared (NIR) region, NIR emission (peaked at 805 nm), and singlet oxygen quantum yields of 0.27/0.31. HE-PEG-NPs were also prepared using 2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[methoxy(polyethyleneglycol)-2000] (DSPE-mPEG2000) to achieve excellent dispersion in water and further explored their practical applications. HE-PEG-NPs not only retained their ¹ O₂ -generating ability, but also exhibited a photothermal conversion efficiency of 25.9%. In vitro and in vivo therapeutic results revealed that the synergetic effect of HE-PEG-NPs on PDT and photothermal therapy (PTT) could achieve a good performance. Therefore, HE-PEG-NPs could be regarded as a promising phototheranostic agent.

A Redox-Responsive, In-Situ Polymerized Polyplatinum(IV)-Coated Gold Nanorod as An Amplifier of Tumor Accumulation for Enhanced Thermo-Chemotherapy

It remains a major challenge to develop an effective therapeutic system based on gold nanorods (GNRs) for cancer therapy. Herein, we developed a redox-responsive, in-situ polymerized polyplatinum(IV)-coated gold nanorod (GNR@polyPt(IV)) with coupling of the near-infrared (NIR)-induced hyperthermal effect and redox-triggered drug release in one therapeutic platform as an amplifier of tumor accumulation through mild hyperthermia for enhanced synergistical thermo-chemotherapy. After in-situ polymerized with 2-methacryloyloxy ethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) and Pt(IV) complex-based prodrug monomer (PPM) onto the surface of GNRs, the nanosized GNR@polyPt(IV) exhibited the advantages of high drug encapsulation efficiency, triggered drug release, and reduced side effect. As demonstrated by thermal imaging and photoacoustic imaging in vitro and in vivo, this GNR@polyPt(IV) exhibited an excellent NIR-associated hyperthermal effect and outstanding capacity of tumor accumulation. Importantly, under a mild hyperthermia process, the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) were upregulation, resulting in angiogenic vessel around the tumor. Combination with accelerated blood flow and angiogenesis by mild hyperthermia, a dramatic increase of drug accumulation in tumor could be realized after systematic administration. As a result, this amplification fashion of tumor accumulation would contribute the GNR@polyPt(IV) to inhibit tumor progression effectively. Such a facile and simple methodology for enhanced therapeutic effect based on GNRs holds great promises for cancer therapy with further development.

NIR light-assisted phototherapies for bone-related diseases and bone tissue regeneration: A systematic review

Recently, the rapid development of biomaterials has induced great interest in the precisely targeted treatment of bone-related diseases, including bone cancers, infections, and inflammation. Realizing noninvasive therapeutic effects, as well as improving bone tissue regeneration, is essential for the success of bone‑related disease therapies. In recent years, researchers have focused on the development of stimuli-responsive strategies to treat bone-related diseases and to realize bone regeneration. Among the various external stimuli for targeted therapy, near infrared (NIR) light has attracted considerable interests due to its high tissue penetration capacity, minimal damage toward normal tissues, and easy remote control properties. The main objective of this systematic review was to reveal the current applications of NIR light-assisted phototherapy for bone-related disease treatment and bone tissue regeneration. Database collection was completed by June 1, 2020, and a total of 81 relevant studies were finally included. We outlined the various therapeutic applications of photothermal, photodynamic and photobiomodulation effects under NIR light irradiation for bone‑related disease treatment and bone regeneration, based on the retrieved literatures. In addition, the advantages and promising applications of NIR light-responsive drug delivery systems for spatiotemporal-controlled therapy were summarized. These findings have revealed that NIR light-assisted phototherapy plays an important role in bone-related disease treatment and bone tissue regeneration, with significant promise for further biomedical and clinical applications.

Advances in engineering local drug delivery systems for cancer immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy aims to leverage the immune system to suppress the growth of tumors and to inhibit metastasis. The recent promising clinical outcomes associated with cancer immunotherapy have prompted research and development efforts towards enhancing the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade, cancer vaccines, cytokine therapy, and adoptive T cell therapy. Advancements in biomaterials, nanomedicine, and micro-/nano-technology have facilitated the development of enhanced local delivery systems for cancer immunotherapy, which can enhance treatment efficacy while minimizing toxicity. Furthermore, locally administered cancer therapies that combine immunotherapy with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or phototherapy have the potential to achieve synergistic antitumor effects. Herein, the latest studies on local delivery systems for cancer immunotherapy are surveyed, with an emphasis on the therapeutic benefits associated with the design of biomaterials and nanomedicines. This article is categorized under: Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease.

Antibody and antibody fragments for cancer immunotherapy

Antibody has become the most rapidly expanding class of pharmaceuticals for treating a wide variety of human diseases including cancers. Especially, with the fast development of cancer immunotherapy, antibody drugs have become the most promising therapeutic for curing cancers. Immune-mediated cell killing by antibodies including antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), antibody-dependent cell phagocytosis (ADCP) and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) as well as regulation of T cell function through immune checkpoint blockade. Due to the absence of Fc fragment, antibody fragments including single-chain variable fragments (scFvs) and single-domain antibodies (sdAds) are mainly applied in chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) T cell therapy for redirecting T cells to tumors and T cell activation by immune checkpoint blockade. In this review, the cancer immunity is first discussed. Then the principal mechanisms of antibody-based immunotherapy will be reviewed. Next, the antibody and antibody fragments applied for cancer immunotherapy will be summarized. Bispecific and multispecific antibodies and a combination of cancer immunotherapy with other tumor treatments will also be mentioned. Finally, an outlook and perspective of antibody-based cancer immunotherapy will be given. This review would provide a comprehensive guidance for the researchers who are interested in and intended to involve in the antibodies- or antibody fragments-based tumor immunity.

A brief review concerning Chimeric Antigen Receptors T cell therapy

The understanding concerning the function of immune system in cancer has achieved considerable advance with time passes by. Manipulating genetically engineered immune cells were investigated as a novel strategy for treating cancer. Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) are recombinant protein molecules by merging the exquisite targeting the potent cytotoxicity of T cells and specificity of monoclonal antibodies and, which could trigger serial cascades of signal transduction and thereby activate T cells to directly destroy the tumor cells. Manufacturing CAR-modified T lymphocytes were successfully implemented in treating cancer derived from they could specifically retarget tumor-associated antigens, causing effective elimination of tumor cells, which spurred the optimization and development of new CAR-T cell technology. The advancement of synthetic biology methodologies of cell therapy in CAR-T would ultimately provide us with a much safer, reliable and efficient modality to against cancer. This review primarily described the emergence, development and application of cell therapy in CAR-T, then discuss the side effects and the potential factors of tumor reccurrence caused by CAR-T cell therapy, in addition to the corresponding countermeasure concerning complications.

Smart Gold Nanostructures for Light Mediated Cancer Theranostics: Combining Optical Diagnostics with Photothermal Therapy

Nanotheranostics, which combines optical multiplexed disease detection with therapeutic monitoring in a single modality, has the potential to propel the field of nanomedicine toward genuine personalized medicine. Currently employed mainstream modalities using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in diagnosis and treatment are limited by a lack of specificity and potential issues associated with systemic toxicity. Light-mediated nanotheranostics offers a relatively non-invasive alternative for cancer diagnosis and treatment by using AuNPs of specific shapes and sizes that absorb near infrared (NIR) light, inducing plasmon resonance for enhanced tumor detection and generating localized heat for tumor ablation. Over the last decade, significant progress has been made in the field of nanotheranostics, however the main biological and translational barriers to nanotheranostics leading to a new paradigm in anti-cancer nanomedicine stem from the molecular complexities of cancer and an incomplete mechanistic understanding of utilization of Au-NPs in living systems. This work provides a comprehensive overview on the biological, physical and translational barriers facing the development of nanotheranostics. It will also summarise the recent advances in engineering specific AuNPs, their unique characteristics and, importantly, tunability to achieve the desired optical/photothermal properties.

Harnessing nanomedicine to overcome the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment

Cancer immunotherapy has received extensive attention due to its ability to activate the innate or adaptive immune systems of patients to combat tumors. Despite a few clinical successes, further endeavors are still needed to tackle unresolved issues, including limited response rates, development of resistance, and immune-related toxicities. Accumulating evidence has pinpointed the tumor microenvironment (TME) as one of the major obstacles in cancer immunotherapy due to its detrimental impacts on tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Nanomedicine has been battling with the TME in the past several decades, and the experience obtained could be exploited to improve current paradigms of immunotherapy. Here, we discuss the metabolic features of the TME and its influence on different types of immune cells. The recent progress in nanoenabled cancer immunotherapy has been summarized with a highlight on the modulation of immune cells, tumor stroma, cytokines and enzymes to reverse the immunosuppressive TME.

Multifunctional STING-Activating Mn3 O4 @Au-dsDNA/DOX Nanoparticle for Antitumor Immunotherapy

The promise of immunotherapy for cancer therapy has not been fully fulfilled because portions of tumors are immunosuppressive. To tackle this challenge, the initiation of immune system by stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway is explored and multifunctional STING-activating nanoparticles are rationally designed for synergistic antitumor therapy. The STING-activating nanoparticles have a formulation of Mn₃ O₄ @Au-dsDNA/DOX, where dsDNA is used to activate STING for immunotherapy and doxorubicin (DOX) is chosen as a model drug for chemotherapy. The STING-mediated immunity is activated, inducing interferon-β (IFN-β) production, increasing T cell priming, and enhancing effector T cell infiltration. Combined with chemotherapy, STING-mediated immunotherapy shows good antitumor efficacy by inhibiting tumor growth and prolonging survival rate in vivo. The promise of cancer immunotherapy can be fulfilled by combining novel antitumor immunity with innovative nanotechnology, and chemotherapy and targeted therapies.

Engineering bacterial outer membrane vesicles as transdermal nanoplatforms for photo-TRAIL-programmed therapy against melanoma

Melanoma is an aggressive cancer with rapid progression, relapse, and metastasis. Systemic therapies for melanoma exhibit limited anticancer potential and high toxicity. Here, we developed the outer membrane vesicles derived from transgenic Escherichia coli, modified with αvβ3 integrin peptide targeting ligand and indocyanine green (named as I-P-OMVs), to induce the transdermal photo-TRAIL-programmed treatment in skin melanoma.-OMVs, which are outer membrane vesicles derived from transgenic Escherichia coli, modified with αvβ3 integrin targeting ligand and indocyanine green (named as I-P-OMVs), to induce the transdermal photo-TRAIL-programmed treatment in skin melanoma. I-P-OMVs exhibited excellent stratum corneum penetration and specificity to melanoma. Upon near-infrared irritation, I-P-OMVs not only induced photothermal-photodynamic responses against primary melanoma spheroids but also activated TRAIL-induced apoptosis in disseminated tumor cells, resulting in a complete eradication of melanoma. I-P-OMVs are the first nanoplatforms to induce transdermal photo-TRAIL-programmed therapy in melanoma with enhanced antitumor performance and high safety, having great potential in cancer therapy.

A tumor acidity activatable and Ca2+-assisted immuno-nanoagent enhances breast cancer therapy and suppresses cancer recurrence

Breast cancer recurrence is the greatest contributor to patient death. As the immune system has a long-term immune memory effect, immunotherapy has great potential for preventing cancer recurrence. However, cancer immunotherapy is often limited due to T cell activation being blocked by insufficient tumor immunogenicity and the complex immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Here we show a tumor acidity activatable and Ca2+-assisted immuno-nanoagent to synergistically promote T cell activation and enhance cancer immunotherapy. When the immuno-nanoagent reaches the acidic tumor microenvironment, the CaCO3 matrix disintegrates to release immune stimulants (CpG ODNs and IDOi) and Ca2+. CpG ODNs are responsible for triggering dendritic cell maturation to increase the immunogenicity for activation of T cells. And IDOi can inhibit the oxidative catabolism of tryptophan to kynurenine for preventing T-cell anergy and apoptosis. Due to the complexity of the immunosuppressive microenvironment, it is difficult to restore T cell activation by inhibiting only one pathway. Fortunately, the released Ca2+ can promote the activation and proliferation of T cells with the support of the immune stimulants. In vivo experiments demonstrate that our Ca2+-assisted immuno-nanoagent can significantly suppress tumor progression and protect mice from tumor rechallenge due to the long-term memory effect. This immunotherapeutic strategy may provide more possibilities for clinical applications such as treating cancer and preventing relapse.

Lactosylated IR820/DOX Co-Assembled Nanodrug for Synergetic Antitumour Therapy

Introduction

Synergistic treatment integrating photothermal therapy (PTT) and chemotherapy is a promising strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the most commonly used photothermal agent, IR820, and chemotherapeutic drug, doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX), are both hydrophilic molecules that suffer from the drawbacks of a short circulation time, rapid elimination and off-target effects.

Methods and Results

Herein, a novel nanodrug that combined HCC-targeted IR820 and DOX was developed based on excipient-free co-assembly. First, lactosylated IR820 (LA-IR820) was designed to target HCC. Then, the LA-IR820/DOX nanodrug (LA-IR820/DOX ND) was purely self-assembled without excipient assistance. The physicochemical properties and the chemo-photothermal antitumour activity of the excipient-free LA-IR820/DOX ND were evaluated. More importantly, the obtained LA-IR820/DOX ND exhibited 100% drug loading, remarkable HCC targeting and excellent antitumour efficacy.

Conclusion

This excipient-free LA-IR820/DOX ND may be a promising candidate for the synchronous delivery and synergistic targeting of IR820 and DOX as a combined chemo-photothermal therapy.

Platelet membrane-coated nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery and local chemo-photothermal therapy of orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma

Specific targeted drug delivery and controllable release of drugs at tumor regions are two of the main challenges for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) therapy, particularly post metastasis. Herein, we present a platelet membrane-facilitated local chemo-photothermal therapy strategy, in which polypyrrole (PPy) nanoparticles act as photothermal agents and along with antitumor drug doxorubicin (DOX) are encapsulated into platelet membranes (PLT-PPy-DOX). The particles are endowed with immune evasiveness and tumor targeting abilities from platelet membranes, and are then intravenously injected into an orthotopic mouse model of HCC. As expected, the PLT-PPy-DOX nanoplatforms were abundant in the tumor tissues. Hyperthermia was generated under laser irradiation (808 nm) not only to ablate tumor cells directly but also to increase the triggered release of DOX. This combination of local chemotherapy and photothermal therapy demonstrated excellent antitumor efficiency in suppressing primary tumor growth and inhibiting tumor metastases. This localized therapy which adopts biocompatible natural cell membranes and good biodegradable organic photothermal agents may provide new insights into designing biomimetic nano-vehicles for personalized therapy of HCC.

Nanotechnology Promotes Genetic and Functional Modifications of Therapeutic T Cells Against Cancer

Growing experience with engineered chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells has revealed some of the challenges associated with developing patient-specific therapy. The promising clinical results obtained with CAR-T therapy nevertheless demonstrate the urgency of advancements to promote and expand its uses. There is indeed a need to devise novel methods to generate potent CARs, and to confer them and track their anti-tumor efficacy in CAR-T therapy. A potentially effective approach to improve the efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy would be to exploit the benefits of nanotechnology. This report highlights the current limitations of CAR-T immunotherapy and pinpoints potential opportunities and tremendous advantages of using nanotechnology to 1) introduce CAR transgene cassettes into primary T cells, 2) stimulate T cell expansion and persistence, 3) improve T cell trafficking, 4) stimulate the intrinsic T cell activity, 5) reprogram the immunosuppressive cellular and vascular microenvironments, and 6) monitor the therapeutic efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy. Therefore, genetic and functional modifications promoted by nanotechnology enable the generation of robust CAR-T cell therapy and offer precision treatments against cancer.

Atomic Force Microscopy in Mechanoimmunology Analysis: A New Perspective for Cancer Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy has remarkable success outcomes against hematological malignancies with high rates of complete remission. To date, many studies have been conducted to increase its effectiveness in other types of cancer. However, it still yields unsatisfying results in solid tumor therapy. This limitation is partly attributed to the lack of understanding of how immunotherapy works in cancer from other perspectives. The traditional studies focus on the biological and chemical perspectives to determine which molecular substrates are involved in the immune system that can eradicate cancer cells. In the last decades, accumulating evidence has shown that physical properties also play important roles in the immune system to combat cancer, which is studied in mechanoimmunology. Mechanoimmunology analysis requires special tools; and herein, atomic force microscopy (AFM) appears as a versatile tool to determine and quantify the mechanical properties of a sample in nanometer precisions. Owing to its multifunctional capabilities, AFM can be used to explore immune system function from the physical perspective. This review paper explains the mechanoimmunology of how immune systems work through AFM, which includes mechanosignaling, mechanosensing, and mechanotransduction, with the aim to deepen the understanding of the mechanistic role of immunotherapy for further development in cancer treatment.

Reprogramming Tumor Microenvironment with Photothermal Therapy

The tumor microenvironment significantly influences cancer progression and therapeutic response. Reprogramming of tumor microenvironment has emerged as a strategy to assist conventional cancer treatment. In recent years, photothermal therapy has received considerable attention owing to its noninvasiveness, high temporal-spatial resolution, and minimal drug resistance. Apart from ablating cancer cells by generating heat upon light irradiation, photothermal therapy can also affect the tumor microenvironment, such as disrupting the tumor extracellular matrix and tumor vasculature. Moreover, cancer cell death by hyperthermia could potentially activate the immune system to fight against tumor. In this topical review, we focus on the recent progress of photothermal therapy based on tumor microenvironment remodeling, aiming to better guide the design of nanoparticles for cancer photoimmunotherapy.

Accurate and Real-Time Temperature Monitoring during MR Imaging Guided PTT

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is an efficient approach for cancer treatment. However, accurately monitoring the spatial distribution of photothermal transducing agents (PTAs) and mapping the real-time temperature change in tumor and peritumoral normal tissue remain a huge challenge. Here, we propose an innovative strategy to integrate T₁-MRI for precisely tracking PTAs with magnetic resonance temperature imaging (MRTI) for real-time monitoring temperature change in vivo during PTT. NaBiF₄: Gd@PDA@PEG nanomaterials were synthesized with favorable T₁-weighted performance to target tumor and localize PTAs. The extremely weak susceptibility (1.04 × 10^-6 emu g^-1 Oe^1-) of NaBiF₄: Gd@PDA@PEG interferes with the local phase marginally, which maintains the capability of MRTI to dynamically record real-time temperature change in tumor and peritumoral normal tissue. The time resolution is 19 s per frame, and the detection precision of temperature change is approximately 0.1 K. The approach achieving PTT guided by multimode MRI holds significant potential for the clinical application.

Magnetic targeted near-infrared II PA/MR imaging guided photothermal therapy to trigger cancer immunotherapy

Rationale: Photothermal therapy (PTT) alone is easy to cause cancer recurrence and fail to completely resist metastasis, yet recurrence and metastasis are two major difficulties in cancer treatment. Titanium disulfide (TiS₂) nanosheet anchored iron oxide nanoparticles (IO NPs) with strong absorption in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window and excellent magnetic properties is developed as therapeutic agent for NIR-II photoacoustic (PA) imaging and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging guided NIR-II PTT triggered immunotherapy.

Methods: The TiS₂ nanosheets were prepared through a modified colloidal chemistry approach, and TSIO nanoagents were prepared by using a one pot self-assembly technique. The magnetic targeting capability of TSIO nanoagents were monitored by NIR-II PA, MR and thermal imaging in vivo. The NIR-II PTT combined with immunotherapy effect was investigated in mouse breast cancer tumor-bearing mice.

Results: The TSIO nanoplatform showed enhanced tumor accumulation when a magnetic field was applied and had the ability to real time monitor the treatment process via dual NIR-II PA and MR imaging. In addition, the magnetic targeted NIR-II PA/MR imaging guided PTT provides an effective way to reverse the immunosuppression inside a tumor and to cooperate with immunotherapy to improve therapeutic outcome of the primary, distal and metastatic tumors.

CAR T cell therapy: newer approaches to counter resistance and cost

The genetically engineered Chimeric Antigen Receptor bearing T-cell (CAR T cell) therapy has been emerged as the new paradigm of cancer immunotherapy. However, recent studies have reported an increase in the number of relapsed haematological malignancies. This review provides newer insights into how the efficacy of CAR T cells might be increased by the application of new genome editing technologies, monitoring the complexity of tumor types and T cells sub-types. Next, tumor mutation burden along with tumormicroenvironment and epigenetic mechanisms of CAR T cell as well as tumor cell may play a vital role to tackle the cancer resistance mechanisms. These studies highlight the need to consider traditional cancer therapy in conjunction with CAR T cell therapy for relapsed or cases unresponsive to treatment. Of note, this therapy is highly expensive and requires multi-skill for successful implementation, which results in reduction of its accessibility/affordability to the patients. Here, we also propose a model for cost minimization of CAR T cell therapy by a collaboration of academia, hospitals and industry.

Cu2 MoS4 /Au Heterostructures with Enhanced Catalase-Like Activity and Photoconversion Efficiency for Primary/Metastatic Tumors Eradication by Phototherapy-Induced Immunotherapy

Photoimmunotherapy can not only effectively ablate the primary tumor but also trigger strong antitumor immune responses against metastatic tumors by inducing immunogenic cell death. Herein, Cu₂ MoS₄ (CMS)/Au heterostructures are constructed by depositing plasmonic Au nanoparticles onto CMS nanosheets, which exhibit enhanced absorption in near-infrared (NIR) region due to the newly formed mid-gap state across the Fermi level based on the hybridization between Au 5d orbitals and S 3p orbitals, thus resulting in more excellent photothermal therapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT) effect than single CMS upon NIR laser irradiation. The CMS and CMS/Au can also serve as catalase to effectively relieve tumor hypoxia, which can enhance the therapeutic effect of O₂ -dependent PDT. Notably, the NIR laser-irradiated CMS/Au can elicit strong immune responses via promoting dendritic cells maturation, cytokine secretion, and activating antitumor effector T-cell responses for both primary and metastatic tumors eradication. Moreover, CMS/Au exhibits outstanding photoacoustic and computed tomography imaging performance owing to its excellent photothermal conversion and X-ray attenuation ability. Overall, the work provides an imaging-guided and phototherapy-induced immunotherapy based on constructing CMS/Au heterostructures for effectively tumor ablation and cancer metastasis inhibition.

Site-specific MOF-based immunotherapeutic nanoplatforms via synergistic tumor cells-targeted treatment and dendritic cells-targeted immunomodulation

An efficient antitumor immune response relies on multiple cells-based process including tumor cells-targeted immunogenicity increment, dendritic cells (DCs)-targeted vaccine delivery and T cells-mediated tumor elimination. Only limited immune efficacy could be achieved by strengthening the function of single type of cells. Therefore, building an effective immunotherapeutic nanoplatform by simultaneously modulating the functions of multiple cells involved in immune process is urgently demanded. However, it is challenging to modulate multiple cells since the on-demand delivery of diverse agents to different cells is restricted by inherent different target sites. Herein, as a proof of concept, dual tailor-made metal organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles based on zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) are designed to comprehensively enhance the immunotherapy via the spatiotemporal cooperation of various therapeutic agents including photothermal agent IR820, adjuvant imiquimod (R837) and immunomodulator 1-methyl-d-tryptophan (1 MT). On one hand, IR820@ZIF-8 is modified with hyaluronic acid for realizing tumor-targeted photothermal therapy, accompanied with the release of tumor antigens. On the other hand, (R837+1 MT)@ZIF-8 is modified with mannan for achieving DCs-targeted immune amplification. The synergistic tumor cells-targeted treatment and DCs-targeted immunomodulation can efficiently overcome two major obstacles in immunotherapy: inadequate activation of immune response and immune evasion, offering powerful platform against invasive malignancy and rechallenged tumors.

PPy nanoneedle based nanoplatform capable of overcoming biological barriers for synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy

The biological barriers in vivo have limited the site-specific bioavailability and impeded therapeutic efficacy. To tackle these issues, nonspherical particles with a shape effect have attracted wide attention to affect the in vivo translocation of a drug delivery system. Herein, we constructed a nanoplatform based on polypyrrole (PPy) nanoneedles by hyaluronic acid (HA) modification and doxorubicin (DOX) loading. The PPy-HA@DOX nanoneedles with high aspect ratios could enhance the extravasation through the fenestrated vasculature of tumors, transport across tumor cell membrane via an endocytosis mechanism or even penetrated the membrane directly, and ultimately enter the nucleus easily via the nuclear pore complex by passive diffusion. With the ability of overcoming biological barriers, the PPy nanoneedle based nanoplatform would deliver drugs into the organelles more effectively. Under near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation, PPy as the photothermal agent could lead to tumor cellular structure damage for photothermal therapy (PTT). Therefore, PPy-HA@DOX developed here would exploit the merits of synergistic combination of chemo-photothermal therapy, which would pave the way toward more effective nanotherapeutics.

Supramolecular Photothermal Nanomedicine Mediated Distant Tumor Inhibition via PD-1 and TIM-3 Blockage

Supramolecular nanoparticles for photothermal therapy (PTT) have shown promising therapeutic efficacy in the primary tumor and great potential for turning the whole-body immune microenvironment from "cold" to "hot," which allows for the simultaneous treatment of the primary tumor and the metastatic site. In this work, we develop a liposome-based PTT nanoparticle through the self-assembly of FDA-approved intravenous injectable lipids and a photothermal agent, indocyanine green (ICG). The obtained ICG-liposome shows long-term storage stability, high ICG encapsulation efficiency (>95%), and enhanced near-infrared (NIR) light-triggered photothermal reaction both in vitro and in vivo. The ICG-liposome efficiently eradicated the primary tumor upon laser irradiation in two colon cancer animal models (CT26 and MC38) and promoted the infiltration of CD8 T cells to distant tumors. However, PTT from ICG-liposome shows only a minimal effect on the inhibition of distant tumor growth in long-term monitoring, predicting other immunosuppressive mechanisms that exist in the distant tumor. By immune-profiling of the tumor microenvironment, we find that the distant tumor growth after PTT highly correlates to compensatory upregulation of immune checkpoint biomarkers, including program death-1 (PD-1), T-cell immunoglobulin, and mucin domain-containing protein 3 (TIM-3), in tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cells. Based on this mechanism, we combine dual PD-1 and TIM-3 blockade with PTT in an MC38 tumor model. This combo successfully clears the primary tumor, generates a systemic immune response, and inhibits the growth of the distant tumor. The ICG-liposome-combined PD-1/TIM-3 blockade strategy sheds light on the future clinical use of supramolecular PTT for cancer immunotherapy.

Modulation of tumor microenvironment for immunotherapy: focus on nanomaterial-based strategies

Recent advances in the field of immunotherapy have profoundly opened up the potential for improved cancer therapy and reduced side effects. However, the tumor microenvironment (TME) is highly immunosuppressive, therefore, clinical outcomes of currently available cancer immunotherapy are still poor. Recently, nanomaterial-based strategies have been developed to modulate the TME for robust immunotherapeutic responses. In this review, the immunoregulatory cell types (cells relating to the regulation of immune responses) inside the TME in terms of stimulatory and suppressive roles are described, and the technologies used to identify and quantify these cells are provided. In addition, recent examples of nanomaterial-based cancer immunotherapy are discussed, with particular emphasis on those designed to overcome barriers caused by the complexity and diversity of TME.

Enhancing Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Efficacy in Solid Tumors

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has been acclaimed as a revolution in cancer treatment following the impressive results in hematologic malignancies. Unfortunately, in patients with solid tumors, objectives responses to CAR T cells are still anecdotal, and important issues are driven by on-target but off-tumor activity of CAR T cells and by the extremely complex biology of solid tumors. Here, we will review the recent attempts to challenge the therapeutic impediments to CAR T-cell therapy in solid tumors. We will focus on the most promising strategies of antigen targeting to improve tumor specificity and address the tumor heterogeneity, efforts to circumvent the physical barriers of the tumor architecture such as subverted tumor vasculature, impediments of CAR T-cell trafficking and immune suppressive microenvironment.

Nanomedicine and Immunotherapy: A Step Further towards Precision Medicine for Glioblastoma

Owing to the advancement of technology combined with our deeper knowledge of human nature and diseases, we are able to move towards precision medicine, where patients are treated at the individual level in concordance with their genetic profiles. Lately, the integration of nanoparticles in biotechnology and their applications in medicine has allowed us to diagnose and treat disease better and more precisely. As a model disease, we used a grade IV malignant brain tumor (glioblastoma). Significant improvements in diagnosis were achieved with the application of fluorescent nanoparticles for intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allowing for improved tumor cell visibility and increasing the extent of the surgical resection, leading to better patient response. Fluorescent probes can be engineered to be activated through different molecular pathways, which will open the path to individualized glioblastoma diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment. Nanoparticles are also extensively studied as nanovehicles for targeted delivery and more controlled medication release, and some nanomedicines are already in early phases of clinical trials. Moreover, sampling biological fluids will give new insights into glioblastoma pathogenesis due to the presence of extracellular vesicles, circulating tumor cells, and circulating tumor DNA. As current glioblastoma therapy does not provide good quality of life for patients, other approaches such as immunotherapy are explored. To conclude, we reason that development of personalized therapies based on a patient's genetic signature combined with pharmacogenomics and immunogenomic information will significantly change the outcome of glioblastoma patients.

Advances in living cell-based anticancer therapeutics

This review summarizes recent advances in the applications of living cells as drug carriers or active drugs for anticancer drug delivery and cancer therapy.

A novel theranostic nano-platform (PB@FePt–HA-g-PEG) for tumor chemodynamic–photothermal co-therapy and triple-modal imaging (MR/CT/PI) diagnosis

We have successfully designed and fabricated a nano-agent (PB@FePt–HA-g-PEG NCs) to serve as a versatile nano-platform with both highly specific targeting ability for chemodynamic–photothermal co-therapy and triple-modal imaging capability.

A covalent organic framework as a nanocarrier for synergistic phototherapy and immunotherapy

As traditional cancer treatment methods, photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) can eliminate primary tumors, but they cannot inhibit extensive tumor metastasis and local recurrence.

Multifunctional phototheranostic nanomedicine for cancer imaging and treatment

Cancer, as one of the most life-threatening diseases, shows a high fatality rate around the world. When improving the therapeutic efficacy of conventional cancer treatments, researchers also conduct extensive studies into alternative therapeutic approaches, which are safe, valid, and economical. Phototherapies, including photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT), are tumor-ablative and function-reserving oncologic interventions, showing strong potential in clinical cancer treatment. During phototherapies, the non-toxic phototherapeutic agents can be activated upon light irradiation to induce cell death without causing much damage to normal tissues. Besides, with the rapid development of nanotechnology in the past decades, phototheranostic nanomedicine also has attracted tremendous interests aiming to continuously refine their performance. Herein, we reviewed the recent progress of phototheranostic nanomedicine for improved cancer therapy. After a brief introduction of the therapeutic principles and related phototherapeutic agents for PDT and PTT, the existing works on developing of phototheranostic nanomedicine by mainly focusing on their categories and applications, particularly on phototherapy-synergized cancer immunotherapy, are comprehensively reviewed. More importantly, a brief conclusion and future challenges of phototheranostic nanomedicine from our point of view are delivered in the last part of this article.

Biomaterial-assisted photoimmunotherapy for cancer

The biomaterials have been well designed as photoabsorbing/sensitizing agents or effective carriers to enhance the photoimmunotherapeutic efficacy and evade their side effects.

A differential study on oxidized/reduced ascorbic acid induced tumor cells’ apoptosis under hypoxia

The anticancer mechanism for reduced/oxidized ascorbic acid (AA/DHA) is of great significance for clinical cancer therapies.