Combined photothermal-immunotherapy via poly-tannic acid coated PLGA nanoparticles for cancer treatment

Poly-tannic acid coated PLGA nanoparticle decorated with antimicrobial peptide for synergistic bacteria treatment and infectious wound healing promotion

Bacterial infections pose a great threat to human health. Therefore, the development of new antibacterial agents or methods is in urgent need. In this study, we prepared polytannic acid (pTA)-coated PLGA nanoparticles decorated with Dermaseptin-PP (Der), an antimicrobial peptide (AMP), on the surface to obtain PLGA-pTA-Der. This nanoplatform could combine AMPs with photothermal treatment (PTT) mediated by pTA to achieve synergistic bacterial killing. The results of in vitro experiments showed that the PLGA-pTA-Der nanoparticles could eliminate nearly 99 % of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) upon near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation (2.0 W·cm-2, 5 min), demonstrating excellent antibacterial properties. In addition, the results of atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that PLGA-pTA-Der with laser irradiation can greatly destroy the mechanical integrity of the bacterial outer membrane. And the presence of Der could exacerbate the heat damage caused by the PLGA-pTA NPs to the bacteria, which is helpful to reduce the critical temperature required for bacteria killing by PTT. In vivo experiments showed that PLGA-pTA-Der nanoparticles with laser irradiation significantly accelerated the wound healing process and inhibited the growth of bacterial. Moreover, it can achieve a strong photothermal antibacterial effect at a mild temperature (<45℃) and does not cause any obvious thermal damage to the surrounding normal skin tissues. Results of immunofluorescence staining showed that the expression of CD31 (a marker of new blood vessel formation) was significantly higher in the PLGA-pTA-Der + laser group than other groups, while the pro-inflammatory molecule TNF-α was significantly lower, indicating that PLGA-pTA-Der nanoparticles accelerated wound healing by enhancing angiogenesis and reducing the inflammatory response. In conclusion, PLGA-pTA-Der nanoparticles was a promising antimicrobial nanoplatform for treating bacterial infections and promoting wound healing.

Advances and perspectives in phototherapy-based combination therapy for cancer treatment

Phototherapy, including photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT), has the advantages of spatiotemporal selectivity, non-invasiveness, and negligible drug resistance. Phototherapy has been approved for treating superficial epidermal tumors. However, its therapeutic efficacy is limited by the hypoxic tumor microenvironment and the highly expressed heat shock protein. Moreover, poor tissue penetration and focused irradiation laser region in phototherapy make treating deep tissues and metastatic tumors challenging. Combination therapy strategies, which integrate the advantages of each treatment and overcome their disadvantages, can significantly improve the therapeutic efficacy. Recently, many combination therapy strategies have been reported. Our study summarizes the strategies used for combining phototherapy with other cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, sonodynamic therapy, gas therapy, starvation therapy, and chemodynamic therapy. Some research cases were selected to analyze the combination therapy effect, delivery platform feature, and synergetic anticancer mechanisms. Moreover, additional research cases are summarized in the tables. This review provides strong evidence that phototherapy-based combination strategies can enhance the anticancer effect compared with phototherapy alone. Additionally, the challenges and future perspectives associated with these combinational therapies are discussed.

Recent progress in tannic acid based approaches as a natural polyphenolic biomaterial for cancer therapy: A review

Significant advancements have been noticed in cancer therapy for decades. Despite this, there are still many critical challenges ahead, including multidrug resistance, drug instability, and side effects. To overcome obstacles of these problems, various types of materials in biomedical research have been explored. Chief among them, the applications of natural compounds have grown rapidly due to their superb biological activities. Natural compounds, especially polyphenolic compounds, play a positive and great role in cancer therapy. Tannic acid (TA), one of the most famous polyphenols, has attracted widespread attention in the field of cancer treatment with unique structural, physicochemical, pharmaceutical, anticancer, antiviral, antioxidant and other strong biological features. This review concentrated on the basic structure along with the important role of TA in tuning oncological signal pathways firstly, and then focused on the use of TA in chemotherapy and preparation of delivery systems including nanoparticles and hydrogels for cancer therapy. Besides, the application of TA/Fe3+ complex coating in photothermal therapy, chemodynamic therapy, combined therapy and theranostics is discussed.

Tannic Acid Interfacial Modification of Prochloraz Ethyl Cellulose Nanoparticles for Enhancing the Antimicrobial Effect and Biosafety of Fungicides

With the poorly soluble and intrinsically unstable feature, prochloraz (Pro) was confronted with lower bioavailability in the crop defense against fungal erosion. Therefore, it was a challenging project to explore the innovative antifungal compound delivery system for improving bioavailability. The superior adhesive fungicide formulation was supposed to be an efficient pathway to enhance transmembrane permeability and biological activity. According to abundant phenolic hydroxyl groups, tannic acid (TA) was an ideal modified adhesive biomaterial to improve interfacial interactions. The fundamental purpose of this research was focused on the synergistic mechanism of TA-interfacial-modified Pro-ethyl cellulose (EC) nanoparticles for improving bioavailability and biosafety. In the stability test, TA-modified Pro-EC nanoparticles had the capacity to reduce Pro initial release burst, extending a persistent validity and improving anti-photodegradation property. The toxicity index of Pro-EC and Pro-EC-TA was approximately 2.93-fold and 4.96-fold that of Pro technical against Fusarium graminearum (F. graminearum), respectively. Compared with nonmodified EC nanoparticles, TA-modified EC nanoparticles obtained eminent transmembrane permeability and superior adherence ability to F. graminearum, for hydroxyl and carboxyl groups of TA to enhance interaction with target cell membranes. The contents of cellular reactive oxygen species induced by Pro-EC and Pro-EC-TA nanoparticles were about 2.31 times and 3.00 times that of the control check (CK), respectively. Compared to the CK group, the membrane potential and ergosterol values of F. graminearum treated with Pro-EC-TA nanoparticles were drastically reduced by 74.91 and 56.20%, respectively. In the biosafety assay, the maximum half-lethal concentration value of the TA-modified Pro-EC nanoparticles indicated that the acute toxicity of the Pro-EC-TA nanoparticles to adult zebrafish was approximately 8.34-fold reduced compared to that of the Pro technical. These findings demonstrated that the successful interfacial modification of Pro-EC nanoparticles with TA was a highly efficient, environmentally safe, and promising alternative for sustainable agricultural application, thus making the fungicide formulation process more simplified, easier fabrication, and lower cost.

A photoactive injectable antibacterial hydrogel to support chemo-immunotherapeutic effect of antigenic cell membrane and sorafenib by near-infrared light mediated tumor ablation

Intravenously administered nanocarriers suffer from off-target distribution, pre-targeting drug leakage, and rapid clearance, limiting their efficiency in tumor eradication. To bypass these challenges, an injectable hydrogel with time- and temperature-dependent viscosity enhancement behavior and self-healing property are reported to assist in the retention of the hydrogel in the tumor site after injection. The cancer cell membrane (CCM) and sorafenib are embedded into the hydrogel to elicit local tumor-specific immune responses and induce cancer cell apoptosis, respectively. In addition, hyaluronic acid (HA) coated Bi₂S₃ nanorods (BiH) are incorporated within the hydrogel to afford prolonged multi-cycle local photothermal therapy (PTT) due to the reduced diffusion of the nanorods to the surrounding tissues as a result of HA affinity toward cancer cells. The results show the promotion of immunostimulatory responses by both CCM and PTT through the release of inflammatory cytokines from immune cells, which allows localized and complete ablation of the breast tumor in an animal model by a single injection of the hydrogel. Moreover, the BiH renders strong antibacterial activity to the hydrogel, which is crucial for the clinical translation of injectable hydrogels as it minimizes the risk of infection in the post-cancer lesion formed by PTT-mediated cancer therapy.

Hybrid Nanomaterials for Cancer Immunotherapy

Nano-immunotherapy has been recognized as a highly promising strategy for cancer treatment in recent decades, which combines nanotechnology and immunotherapy to combat against tumors. Hybrid nanomaterials consisting of at least two constituents with distinct compositions and properties, usually organic and inorganic, have been engineered with integrated functions and enormous potential in boosting cancer immunotherapy. This review provides a summary of hybrid nanomaterials reported for cancer immunotherapy, including nanoscale metal-organic frameworks, metal-phenolic networks, mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles, metallofullerene nanomaterials, polymer-lipid, and biomacromolecule-based hybrid nanomaterials. The combination of immunotherapy with chemotherapy, chemodynamic therapy, radiotherapy, radiodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, and sonodynamic therapy based on hybrid nanomaterials is also discussed. Finally, the current challenges and the prospects for designing hybrid nanomaterials and their application in cancer immunotherapy are outlined.

Molecular insights and therapeutic implications of nanoengineered dietary polyphenols for targeting lung carcinoma: part I

Lung cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally, and non-small-cell lung cancer accounts for most lung cancer cases. Nanotechnology-based drug-delivery systems have exhibited immense potential in lung cancer therapy due to their fascinating physicochemical characteristics, in vivo stability, bioavailability, prolonged and targeted delivery, gastrointestinal absorption and therapeutic efficiency of their numerous chemotherapeutic agents. However, traditional chemotherapeutics have systemic toxicity issues; therefore, dietary polyphenols might potentially replace them in lung cancer treatment. Polyphenol-based targeted nanotherapeutics have demonstrated interaction with a multitude of protein targets and cellular signaling pathways that affect major cellular processes. This review summarizes the various molecular mechanisms and targeted therapeutic potentials of nanoengineered dietary polyphenols in the effective management of lung cancer.

Combined Chemo-Immuno-Photothermal Therapy for Effective Cancer Treatment via an All-in-One and One-for-All Nanoplatform

Tumor metastasis and recurrence are recognized to be the main causes of failure in cancer treatment. To address these issues, an "all in one" and "one for all" nanoplatform was established for combined "chemo-immuno-photothermal" therapy with the expectation to improve the antitumor efficacy. Herein, Docetaxel (DTX, a chemo-agent) and cynomorium songaricum polysaccharide (CSP, an immunomodulator) were loaded into zein nanoparticles coated by a green tea polyphenols/iron coordination complex (GTP/Fe^III, a photothermal agent). From the result, the obtained nanoplatform denoted as DTX-loaded Zein/CSP-GTP/Fe^III NPs was spherical in morphology with an average particle size of 274 nm, and achieved pH-responsive drug release. Moreover, the nanoplatform exhibited excellent photothermal effect both in vitro and in vivo. It was also observed that the nanoparticles could be effectively up take by tumor cells and inhibited their migration. From the results of the in vivo experiment, this nanoplatform could completely eliminate the primary tumors, prevent tumor relapses on LLC (Lewis lung cancer) tumor models, and significantly inhibit metastasis on 4T1 (murine breast cancer) tumor models. The underlying mechanism was also explored. It was discovered that this nanoplatform could induce a strong ICD effect and promote the release of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) including CRT, ATP, and HMGB1 by the dying tumor cells. And the CSP could assist the DAMPs in inducing the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) and facilitate the intratumoral infiltration of T lymphocytes to clear up the residual or disseminated tumor cells. In summary, this study demonstrated that the DTX-loaded Zein/CSP-GTP/Fe^III is a promising nanoplatform to completely inhibit tumor metastasis and recurrence.

Escherichia coli Mimetic Gold Nanorod-Mediated Photo- and Immunotherapy for Treating Cancer and Its Metastasis

Most cancer-related deaths are due to metastasis or recurrence. Therefore, the ultimate goal of cancer therapy will be to treat metastatic and recurrent cancers. Combination therapy for cancer will be one of trial for effective treating metastasis and recurrence. In this study, Escherichia coli-mimetic nanomaterials are synthesized using Escherichia coli membrane proteins, adhesion proteins, and gold nanorods, which are named E. coli mimetic AuNRs (ECA), for combination therapy against cancer and its recurrence. ECA treatment with 808 nm laser irradiation eliminates CT-26 or 4T1 tumors via a photothermal effect. ECA with laser irradiation induces activation of immune cells in the tumor-draining lymph nodes. The mice cured from CT-26 or 4T1 tumor by ECA are rechallenged with those cancer in the lung metastatic form, and the results showed that ECA treatment for the first CT-26 or 4T1 tumor challenge prevents cancer infiltration to the lung in the second challenge. This preventive effect of ECA against tumor growth in the second challenge is aided by cancer antigen-specific T cell immunity. Overall, these findings show that ECA is a nanomaterial with dual functions as a photothermal therapy for treating primary cancers and as immunotherapy for preventing recurrence and metastasis.