Membrane-wrapped nanoparticles for photothermal cancer therapy

Recent advances in the development of tumor microenvironment-activatable nanomotors for deep tumor penetration

Cancer represents a significant threat to human health, with the use of traditional chemotherapy drugs being limited by their harsh side effects. Tumor-targeted nanocarriers have emerged as a promising solution to this problem, as they can deliver drugs directly to the tumor site, improving drug effectiveness and reducing adverse effects. However, the efficacy of most nanomedicines is hindered by poor penetration into solid tumors. Nanomotors, capable of converting various forms of energy into mechanical energy for self-propelled movement, offer a potential solution for enhancing drug delivery to deep tumor regions. External force-driven nanomotors, such as those powered by magnetic fields or ultrasound, provide precise control but often necessitate bulky and costly external equipment. Bio-driven nanomotors, propelled by sperm, macrophages, or bacteria, utilize biological molecules for self-propulsion and are well-suited to the physiological environment. However, they are constrained by limited lifespan, inadequate speed, and potential immune responses. To address these issues, nanomotors have been engineered to propel themselves forward by catalyzing intrinsic "fuel" in the tumor microenvironment. This mechanism facilitates their penetration through biological barriers, allowing them to reach deep tumor regions for targeted drug delivery. In this regard, this article provides a review of tumor microenvironment-activatable nanomotors (fueled by hydrogen peroxide, urea, arginine), and discusses their prospects and challenges in clinical translation, aiming to offer new insights for safe, efficient, and precise treatment in cancer therapy.

Manipulating the Crosstalk between Cancer and Immunosuppressive Cells with Phototherapeutic Gold-Nanohut for Reprogramming Tumor Microenvironment

Photoimmunotherapy faces challenges due to insufficient intratumoral accumulation of photothermal agents and the reversion of the cancer-immunity cycle during treatment. In this study, an anti-PD-L1-immobilized magnetic gold nanohut, AuNH-2-Ab, with photoresponsive, thermosensitive, and immunomodulatory properties to effectively suppress the growth of primary tumors, elevate immunogenic cell death (ICD) levels, reverse the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), and consequently inhibit metastases are developed. AuNH-2-Ab achieves high tumor accumulation (9.54% injected dose) following systemic administration, allowing the modulation of hyperthermia dose of over 50 °C in the tumor. By optimizing the hyperthermia dose, AuNH-2-Ab simultaneously target and eliminate cancer cells and tumor-associated macrophages, thereby activating potent antitumor immunity without being compromised by immunosuppressive elements. Hyperthermia/pH induced morphological transformation of AuNH-2-Ab involving the detachment of the surface antibody for in situ PD-L1 inhibition, and exposure of the inner fucoidan layer for natural killer (NK) cell activation. This precision photoimmunotherapy approach reprograms the TIME, significantly prolongs survival in a murine hepatocellular carcinoma model (Hep55.1c), and harnesses the synergistic effects of ICD production and checkpoint inhibitors by utilizing a single nanoplatform.

Effect of Polymer and Cell Membrane Coatings on Theranostic Applications of Nanoparticles: A Review

The recent decade has witnessed a remarkable surge in the field of nanoparticles, from their synthesis, characterization, and functionalization to diverse applications. At the nanoscale, these particles exhibit distinct physicochemical properties compared to their bulk counterparts, enabling a multitude of applications spanning energy, catalysis, environmental remediation, biomedicine, and beyond. This review focuses on specific nanoparticle categories, including magnetic, gold, silver, and quantum dots (QDs), as well as hybrid variants, specifically tailored for biomedical applications. A comprehensive review and comparison of prevalent chemical, physical, and biological synthesis methods are presented. To enhance biocompatibility and colloidal stability, and facilitate surface modification and cargo/agent loading, nanoparticle surfaces are coated with different synthetic polymers and very recently, cell membrane coatings. The utilization of polymer- or cell membrane-coated nanoparticles opens a wide variety of biomedical applications such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), hyperthermia, photothermia, sample enrichment, bioassays, drug delivery, etc. With this review, the goal is to provide a comprehensive toolbox of insights into polymer or cell membrane-coated nanoparticles and their biomedical applications, while also addressing the challenges involved in translating such nanoparticles from laboratory benchtops to in vitro and in vivo applications. Furthermore, perspectives on future trends and developments in this rapidly evolving domain are provided.

Magnetotactic Bacteria AMB-1 with Active Deep Tumor Penetrability for NIR-II Photothermal Tumor Therapy

The complex tumor structure and microenvironment such as abnormal tumor vasculature, dense tumor matrix, and elevated interstitial fluid pressure greatly hinder the penetration and retention of therapeutic agents in solid tumors. The development of an advanced method for robust penetration and retention of therapeutic agents in tumors is of great significance for efficient tumor treatments. In this work, we demonstrated that magnetotactic bacteria AMB-1 with hypoxic metabolism characteristics can actively penetrate the tumor to selectively colonize deep hypoxic regions, which emerge as a promising intelligent drug carrier. Furthermore, AMB-1 presents intrinsic second near-infrared (NIR-II) photothermal performance that can efficiently convert a 1064 nm laser into heat for tumor thermal ablation. We believe that our investigations not only develop a novel bacteria-based photothermal agent but also provide useful insights for the development of advanced tumor microbial therapies.

Nanoformulations in Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Applications: Green Perspectives

This study provides a brief discussion of the major nanopharmaceuticals formulations as well as the impact of nanotechnology on the future of pharmaceuticals. Effective and eco-friendly strategies of biofabrication are also highlighted. Modern approaches to designing pharmaceutical nanoformulations (e.g., 3D printing, Phyto-Nanotechnology, Biomimetics/Bioinspiration, etc.) are outlined. This paper discusses the need to use natural resources for the "green" design of new nanoformulations with therapeutic efficiency. Nanopharmaceuticals research is still in its early stages, and the preparation of nanomaterials must be carefully considered. Therefore, safety and long-term effects of pharmaceutical nanoformulations must not be overlooked. The testing of nanopharmaceuticals represents an essential point in their further applications. Vegetal scaffolds obtained by decellularizing plant leaves represent a valuable, bioinspired model for nanopharmaceutical testing that avoids using animals. Nanoformulations are critical in various fields, especially in pharmacy, medicine, agriculture, and material science, due to their unique properties and advantages over conventional formulations that allows improved solubility, bioavailability, targeted drug delivery, controlled release, and reduced toxicity. Nanopharmaceuticals have transitioned from experimental stages to being a vital component of clinical practice, significantly improving outcomes in medical fields for cancer treatment, infectious diseases, neurological disorders, personalized medicine, and advanced diagnostics. Here are the key points highlighting their importance. The significant challenges, opportunities, and future directions are mentioned in the final section.

Tumor versus Tumor Cell Targeting in Metal-Based Nanoparticles for Cancer Theranostics

The application of metal-based nanoparticles (mNPs) in cancer therapy and diagnostics (theranostics) has been a hot research topic since the early days of nanotechnology, becoming even more relevant in recent years. However, the clinical translation of this technology has been notably poor, with one of the main reasons being a lack of understanding of the disease and conceptual errors in the design of mNPs. Strikingly, throughout the reported studies to date on in vivo experiments, the concepts of "tumor targeting" and "tumor cell targeting" are often intertwined, particularly in the context of active targeting. These misconceptions may lead to design flaws, resulting in failed theranostic strategies. In the context of mNPs, tumor targeting can be described as the process by which mNPs reach the tumor mass (as a tissue), while tumor cell targeting refers to the specific interaction of mNPs with tumor cells once they have reached the tumor tissue. In this review, we conduct a critical analysis of key challenges that must be addressed for the successful targeting of either tumor tissue or cancer cells within the tumor tissue. Additionally, we explore essential features necessary for the smart design of theranostic mNPs, where 'smart design' refers to the process involving advanced consideration of the physicochemical features of the mNPs, targeting motifs, and physiological barriers that must be overcome for successful tumor targeting and/or tumor cell targeting.

Mechanism and potentialities of photothermal and photodynamic therapy of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) against cancer

The ultimate goal of nanoparticle-based phototherapy is to suppress tumor growth. Photothermal therapy (PTT) and photothermal photodynamic therapy (PDT) are two types of physicochemical therapy that use light radiation with multiple wavelength ranges in the near-infrared to treat cancer. When a laser is pointed at tissue, photons are taken in the intercellular and intracellular regions, converting photon energy to heat. It has attracted much interest and research in recent years. The advent of transition materials dichalcogenides (TMDCs) is a revolutionary step in PDT/PTT-based cancer therapy. The TMDCs is a multilayer 2D nano-composite. TMDCs contain three atomic layers in which two chalcogens squash in the transition metal. The chalcogen atoms are highly reactive, and the surface characteristics of TMDCs help them to target deep cancer cells. They absorb Near Infrared (NIR), which kills deep cancer cells. In this review, we have discussed the history and mechanism of PDT/PTT and the use of TMDCs and nanoparticle-based systems, which have been practiced for theranostics purposes. We have also discussed PDT/PTT combined with immunotherapy, in which the cancer cell apoptosis is done by activating the immune cells, such as CD8+.

Bionic nanotheranostic for multimodal imaging-guided NIR-II-photothermal cancer therapy

In photothermal therapy (PTT), the photothermal conversion of the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window allows deeper penetration and higher laser irradiance and is considered a promising therapeutic strategy for deep tissues. Since cancer remains a leading cause of deaths worldwide, despite the numerous treatment options, we aimed to develop an improved bionic nanotheranostic for combined imaging and photothermal cancer therapy. We combined a gold nanobipyramid (Au NBP) as a photothermal agent and MnO2 as a magnetic resonance enhancer to produce core/shell structures (Au@MnO2; AM) and modified their surfaces with homologous cancer cell plasma membranes (PM) to enable tumour targeting. The performance of the resulting Au@MnO2@PM (AMP) nanotheranostic was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. AMP exhibits photothermal properties under NIR-II laser irradiation and has multimodal in vitro imaging functions. AMP enables the computed tomography (CT), photothermal imaging (PTI), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of tumours. In particular, AMP exhibited a remarkable PTT effect on cancer cells in vitro and inhibited tumour cell growth under 1064 nm laser irradiation in vivo, with no significant systemic toxicity. This study achieved tumour therapy guided by multimodal imaging, thereby demonstrating a novel strategy for the use of bionic gold nanoparticles for tumour PTT under NIR-II laser irradiation.

Membrane-Cloaked Nanoparticles for RNA Interference of β-Catenin in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

There is an outstanding need for targeted therapies for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive breast cancer subtype. Since TNBC's rapid growth and metastasis are driven by hyperactive Wnt signaling, suppressing the key-pathway mediator β-catenin through RNA interference may improve patient outcomes. However, small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) molecules require a carrier to elicit targeted gene silencing. Here, we show that 4T1 cancer cell membrane wrapped poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) can deliver siRNA into TNBC cells, silence β-catenin expression, and reduce the cells' tumorigenic qualities. Compared to unwrapped and nontargeted NPs, the cancer cell membrane wrapped nanoparticles (CCNPs) exhibit dramatically improved uptake by TNBC cells versus breast epithelial cells and greater gene silencing at mRNA and protein levels. Congruently, β-catenin siRNA-loaded CCNPs significantly activate senescence in 2D cultured TNBC cells and reduce proliferation in 3D spheroids. This work advances the development of nucleic acid carriers for targeted RNA interference therapy.

Enhanced antitumour response of gold nanostar-mediated photothermal therapy in combination with immunotherapy in a mouse model of colon carcinoma

OBJECTIVES

This study investigated the potential of combining PTT with dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy and anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy against colorectal cancer and elucidated the underlying mechanisms.

METHODS

The CT26 tumour-bearing mice were divided into seven treatment groups: control, atezolizumab (A), dendritic cells (DC), pAuNSs-mediated PTT (PTT), PTT combined with atezolizumab (PTT + A), PTT combined with dendritic cells (PTT + DC), and PTT combined with dendritic cells and atezolizumab (PTT + DC + A). Therapeutic efficacy was monitored.

RESULTS

PTT upregulated most immune cell membrane receptor genes, including PD-L1, and downregulated genes associated with antigen presentation and T cell activation. Although the PTT + A and PTT + DC treatments showed partial tumour growth retardation, the combination of PTT with DCs and atezolizumab (PTT + DC + A) exhibited the most significant antitumour effect, with a complete remission rate of 50% and prolonged survival. On day 14, tumour samples from non-responsive mice revealed insufficient recruitment of T cells as the reason for uncured tumours. Notably, mice cured with PTT + DC and PTT + DC + A treatments showed no detectable lung nodules.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated that the combination of PTT with DC-based immunotherapy and atezolizumab effectively overcomes the non-sensitive nature of CT26 tumours. These findings highlight the potential of this combination approach for colorectal cancer treatment.

Combination cancer imaging and phototherapy mediated by membrane-wrapped nanoparticles

Cancer is a devastating health problem with inadequate treatment options. Many conventional treatments for solid-tumor cancers lack tumor specificity, which results in low efficacy and off-target damage to healthy tissues. Nanoparticle (NP)-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) is a promising minimally invasive treatment for solid-tumor cancers that has entered clinical trials. Traditionally, NPs used for PTT are coated with passivating agents and/or targeting ligands, but alternative coatings are being explored to enhance tumor specific delivery. In particular, cell-derived membranes have emerged as promising coatings that improve the biointerfacing of photoactive NPs, which reduces their immune recognition, prolongs their systemic circulation and increases their tumor accumulation, allowing for more effective PTT. To maximize treatment success, membrane-wrapped nanoparticles (MWNPs) that enable dual tumor imaging and PTT are being explored. These multifunctional theranostic NPs can be used to enhance tumor detection and/or ensure a sufficient quantity of NPs that have arrived in the tumor prior to laser irradiation. This review summarizes the current state-of-the-art in engineering MWNPs for combination cancer imaging and PTT and discusses considerations for the path toward clinical translation.

Design and fabrication of intracellular therapeutic cargo delivery systems based on nanomaterials: current status and future perspectives

Intracellular cargo delivery, the introduction of small molecules, proteins, and nucleic acids into a specific targeted site in a biological system, is an important strategy for deciphering cell function, directing cell fate, and reprogramming cell behavior. With the advancement of nanotechnology, many researchers use nanoparticles (NPs) to break through biological barriers to achieving efficient targeted delivery in biological systems, bringing a new way to realize efficient targeted drug delivery in biological systems. With a similar size to many biomolecules, NPs possess excellent physical and chemical properties and a certain targeting ability after functional modification on the surface of NPs. Currently, intracellular cargo delivery based on NPs has emerged as an important strategy for genome editing regimens and cell therapy. Although researchers can successfully deliver NPs into biological systems, many of them are delivered very inefficiently and are not specifically targeted. Hence, the development of efficient, target-capable, and safe nanoscale drug delivery systems to deliver therapeutic substances to cells or organs is a major challenge today. In this review, on the basis of describing the research overview and classification of NPs, we focused on the current research status of intracellular cargo delivery based on NPs in biological systems, and discuss the current problems and challenges in the delivery process of NPs in biological systems.

Nanomedicine-based adjuvant therapy: a promising solution for lung cancer

Lung cancer has been the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide for decades. Despite the increasing understanding of the underlying disease mechanisms, the prognosis still remains poor for many patients. Novel adjuvant therapies have emerged as a promising treatment method to augment conventional methods and boost the therapeutic effects of primary therapies. Adjuvant therapy based on nanomedicine has gained considerable interest for supporting and enhancing traditional therapies, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy, due to the tunable physicochemical features and ease of synthetic design of nanomaterials. In addition, nanomedicine can provide protective effects against other therapies by reducing adverse side effects through precise disease targeting. Therefore, nanomedicine-based adjuvant therapies have been extensively employed in a wide range of preclinical and clinical cancer treatments to overcome the drawbacks of conventional therapies. In this review, we mainly discuss the recent advances in adjuvant nanomedicine for lung cancer treatment and highlight their functions in improving the therapeutic outcome of other therapies, which may inspire new ideas for advanced lung cancer therapies and stimulate research efforts around this topic.

Bioengineered nanogenerator with sustainable reactive oxygen species storm for self-reinforcing sono-chemodynamic oncotherapy

Oxidative stress-based antitumor modalities derived from reactive oxygen species (ROS) storms have attracted increasing attention. Nevertheless, low delivery efficiency, poor selectivity, hypoxia and overexpressed glutathione (GSH) have severely restricted the sustainable generation of the ROS storm in tumor cells. Herein, we design a bioengineered nanogenerator by coordination-driven co-assembly of sonosensitizer indocyanine green (ICG), Fenton-like agent copper ion (Cu^Ⅱ) and mitochondrial respiratory inhibitor metformin (MET), which is then camouflaged by a cancer cytomembrane to induce a sustainable intracellular ROS storm for on-demand self-reinforcing sono-chemodynamic oncotherapy. Such a nanogenerator with a core-shell structure, suitable diameter and outstanding stability can efficiently accumulate in tumor regions and then internalize into tumor cells through the camouflaging and homologous targeting strategy of the cancer cytomembrane. The nanogenerator shows an exceptional instability under the triple stimulations of acidic lysosomes, overexpressed GSH and ultrasound (US) radiation, thereby resulting in the rapid disassembly and burst drug release. Interestingly, the released MET significantly enhances the sonodynamic therapy (SDT) efficacy of the released ICG by inhibiting mitochondrial respiration and meanwhile the released Cu^Ⅱ obviously reduces ROS elimination by downregulating overexpressed GSH for self-amplifying and self-protecting the intracellular ROS storm. Moreover, such a nanogenerator almost completely achieves the tumor ablation in vivo in a single therapy cycle. Taken together, our bioengineered nanogenerator with a sustainable ROS storm can provide a promising strategy for ROS storm-based oncotherapy.

Megakaryocyte membrane-wrapped nanoparticles for targeted cargo delivery to hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) are desirable targets for gene therapy but are notoriously difficult to target and transfect. Existing viral vector-based delivery methods are not effective in HSPCs due to their cytotoxicity, limited HSPC uptake and lack of target specificity (tropism). Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) are attractive, nontoxic carriers that can encapsulate various cargo and enable its controlled release. To engineer PLGA NP tropism for HSPCs, megakaryocyte (Mk) membranes, which possess HSPC-targeting moieties, were extracted and wrapped around PLGA NPs, producing MkNPs. In vitro, fluorophore-labeled MkNPs are internalized by HSPCs within 24 h and were selectively taken up by HSPCs versus other physiologically related cell types. Using membranes from megakaryoblastic CHRF-288 cells containing the same HSPC-targeting moieties as Mks, CHRF-wrapped NPs (CHNPs) loaded with small interfering RNA facilitated efficient RNA interference upon delivery to HSPCs in vitro. HSPC targeting was conserved in vivo, as poly(ethylene glycol)-PLGA NPs wrapped in CHRF membranes specifically targeted and were taken up by murine bone marrow HSPCs following intravenous administration. These findings suggest that MkNPs and CHNPs are effective and promising vehicles for targeted cargo delivery to HSPCs.

Immunogenic Cell Death Photothermally Mediated by Erythrocyte Membrane-Coated Magnetofluorescent Nanocarriers Improves Survival in Sarcoma Model

Inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD) during cancer therapy is a major challenge that might significantly improve patient survival. The purpose of this study was to develop a theranostic nanocarrier, capable both of conveying a cytotoxic thermal dose when mediating photothermal therapy (PTT) after its intravenous delivery, and of consequently inducing ICD, improving survival. The nanocarrier consists of red blood cell membranes (RBCm) embedding the near-infrared dye IR-780 (IR) and camouflaging Mn-ferrite nanoparticles (RBCm-IR-Mn). The RBCm-IR-Mn nanocarriers were characterized by size, morphology, surface charge, magnetic, photophysical, and photothermal properties. Their photothermal conversion efficiency was found to be size- and concentration-dependent. Late apoptosis was observed as the cell death mechanism for PTT. Calreticulin and HMGB1 protein levels increased for in vitro PTT with temperature around 55 °C (ablative regime) but not for 44 °C (hyperthermia), suggesting ICD elicitation under ablation. RBCm-IR-Mn were then intravenously administered in sarcoma S180-bearing Swiss mice, and in vivo ablative PTT was performed five days later. Tumor volumes were monitored for the subsequent 120 days. RBCm-IR-Mn-mediated PTT promoted tumor regression in 11/12 animals, with an overall survival rate of 85% (11/13). Our results demonstrate that the RBCm-IR-Mn nanocarriers are great candidates for PTT-induced cancer immunotherapy.

MicroRNAs in T Cell-Immunotherapy

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as master regulators of gene expression in homeostasis and disease. Despite the rapidly growing body of evidence on the theranostic potential of restoring miRNA levels in pre-clinical models, the translation into clinics remains limited. Here, we review the current knowledge of miRNAs as T-cell targeting immunotherapeutic tools, and we offer an overview of the recent advances in miRNA delivery strategies, clinical trials and future perspectives in RNA interference technologies.

Antioxidant, Enzyme, and H2O2-Triggered Melanoma Targeted Mesoporous Organo-Silica Nanocomposites for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

The multi-stimuli responsive drug delivery system has recently attracted attention in cancer treatments, since it can reduce several side effects and enhance cancer therapeutic efficacy. Herein, we present the intracellular antioxidant (glutathione, GSH), enzyme (hyaluronidase, HAase), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) triggered mesoporous organo-silica (MOS) nanocomposites for multi-modal treatments via chemo-, photothermal, and photodynamic cancer therapies. A MOS nanoparticle was synthesized by two-types of precursors, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and bis[3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl] tetrasulfide (BTES), providing large-sized mesopores and disulfide bonds cleavable by GSH. Additionally, we introduced a new β-cyclodextrin-hyaluronic acid (CDHA) gatekeeper system, enabling nanocomposites to form the specific interaction with the ferrocene (Fc) molecule, control the drug release by the HAase and H2O2 environment, as well as provide the targeting ability against the CD44-overexpressing melanoma (B16F10) cells. Indocyanine green (ICG) and doxorubicin (Dox) were loaded in the MOS-Fc-CDHA (ID@MOS-Fc-CDHA) nanocomposites, allowing for hyperthermia and cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) under an 808 nm NIR laser irradiation. Therefore, we demonstrated that the ID@MOS-Fc-CDHA nanocomposites were internalized to the B16F10 cells via the CD44 receptor-mediated endocytosis, showing the controlled drug release by GSH, HAase, and H2O2 to enhance the cancer therapeutic efficacy via the synergistic chemo-, photothermal, and photodynamic therapy effect.