Yun Wan Su, Yang Wonseok, Shim Man Kyu, Song Sukyung, Choi Jiwoong, Kim Jeongrae, Kim Jinseong, Moon Yujeong, Jo SeongHoon, Lim Dong-Kwon, Kim Kwangmeyung
College of Pharmacy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Republic of Korea.
KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea.
Biomater Res. 2024 Apr 29;28:0024. doi: 10.34133/bmr.0024. eCollection 2024.
Photothermal therapy (PTT) at mild temperatures ranging from 44 to 45 °C holds tremendous promise as a strategy for inducing potent immunogenic cell death (ICD) within tumor tissues, which can reverse the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (ITM) into an immune-responsive milieu. However, accurately and precisely controlling the tumor temperature remains a formidable challenge. Here, we report the precision photothermal immunotherapy by using silica-coated gold nanorods (AuNR@SiO), and investigating the optimal administration routes and treatment protocols, which enabled to achieve the sustained and controlled mild heating within the tumor tissues. First, the highest photothermal performance of AuNR@SiO with 20-nm silica shell thickness than 5 or 40 nm was confirmed in vitro and in vivo. Then, the optimal conditions for precision immunotherapy were further investigated to produce mild temperature (44 to 45 °C) accurately in tumor tissues. The optimal conditions with AuNR@SiO result in a distinct cell death with high early/late apoptosis and low necrosis, leading to very efficient ICD compared to lower or higher temperatures. In colon tumor-bearing mice, intratumorally injected AuNR@SiO efficiently promotes a mild temperature within the tumor tissues by local irradiation of near-infrared (NIR) laser. This mild PTT substantially increases the population of mature dendritic cells (DCs) and cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) within tumor tissues, ultimately reversing the ITM into an immune-responsive milieu. Furthermore, we found that the combination mild PTT with AuNR@SiO and anti-PD-L1 therapy could lead to the 100% complete regression of primary tumors and immunological memory to prevent tumor recurrence. Collectively, this study demonstrates that AuNR@SiO with a robust methodology capable of continuously inducing mild temperature accurately within the ITM holds promise as an approach to achieve the precision photothermal immunotherapy.
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