Corn-like Au/Ag nanorod-mediated NIR-II photothermal/photodynamic therapy potentiates immune checkpoint antibody efficacy by reprogramming the cold tumor microenvironment

Liangjie Jin; Song Shen; Youju Huang; Dongdong Li; Xianzhu Yang

doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120582

Corn-like Au/Ag nanorod-mediated NIR-II photothermal/photodynamic therapy potentiates immune checkpoint antibody efficacy by reprogramming the cold tumor microenvironment

Biomaterials. 2021 Jan:268:120582. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120582. Epub 2020 Nov 30.

Authors

Liangjie Jin¹, Song Shen², Youju Huang³, Dongdong Li⁴, Xianzhu Yang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Institutes for Life Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, PR China; National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, And Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, PR China.
² Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Institutes for Life Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, PR China; School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou International Campus, Guangzhou, 511442, PR China; Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials and Engineering of the Ministry of Education, And Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering of Guangdong Province, And Innovation Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, PR China. Electronic address: shensong@scut.edu.cn.
³ Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Institutes for Life Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, PR China; College of Materials, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311121, PR China. Electronic address: yjhuang@hznu.edu.cn.
⁴ Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Institutes for Life Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, PR China.
⁵ Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Institutes for Life Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, PR China; Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, 510005, PR China. Electronic address: yangxz@scut.edu.cn.

PMID: 33302120
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120582

Abstract

Immune checkpoint blocking (ICB) antibodies have shown great success in the clinic, but their low response rate in patients with immunosuppressive cold tumors remains a huge challenge. Inspired by the capability of immunogenic cell death (ICD) to convert tumors from cold to hot, we developed a corn-like Au/Ag nanorod (NR) that can induce the ICD of tumor cells under 1064-nm light irradiation. The corn-like Au/Ag NRs plus NIR-II light irradiation strikingly increased the tumor infiltration of T cells and provoked a systemic immune response to reprogram the immunosuppressive cold tumor microenvironment; these NRs synergized with ICB antibodies to efficiently inhibit distant tumor growth. Encouragingly, the combination of aCTLA4 and Au/Ag NRs plus 1064-nm light irradiation elicited a strong immunological memory effect that protected against tumor recurrence.

Keywords: Checkpoint blockade therapy; Corn-like Au/Ag nanorods; Immunogenic cell death; NIR-II PTT/PDT; Turning cold tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Gold
Humans
Nanotubes*
Photochemotherapy*
Silver
Tumor Microenvironment
Zea mays

Substances

Silver
Gold