The development of functional materials for tumor immunogenicity enhancement is desirable for overcoming the low therapeutic efficiency and easy metastasis during tumor treatments. Herein, the thermoresponsive nanoparticles composed of photothermal agent (PTA) and click reactive reagent are developed for enhanced immunotherapy application. A Ni-bis(dithiolene)-containing PTA with intense near-infrared absorption and efficient photothermal conversion is developed for thermoresponsive nanoparticles construction. The generated heat by encapsulated PTA further induces the phase transition of thermoresponsive nanoparticles with the release of chemotherapy reagent to react with the amino groups on functional proteins, realizing PTT and chemotherapy simultaneously. Moreover, the immunogenic cell death (ICD) of cancer cells evoked by PTT could be further enhanced by the released reactive reagent. As a result, the synergistic effect of photothermal treatment and reaction-mediated chemotherapy can suppress the growth of a primary tumor, and the evoked ICD could further activate the immune response with the suppression of a distant tumor. This synergistic treatment strategy provides a reliable and promising approach for cancer immunotherapy in clinic.

The development of functional materials for the tumor immunogenicity enhancement is desirable for overcoming the low therapeutic efficiency and easy metastasis during tumor treatments. Herein, thermos-responsive nanoparticles composed of photothermal agent (PTA) and click reactive reagent are developed for enhanced immunotherapy application. A metal-bis(dithiolene)-containing PTA with intense near-infrared (NIR) absorption and efficient photo-thermal conversion is developed for thermal-responsive nanoparticles construction. The generated heat by encapsulated PTA will further induce the phase transition of thermos-responsive nanoparticles with the release of chemotherapy reagent to react with the amino groups on functional proteins, realizing PTT and chemotherapy simultaneously. Moreover, immunogenic cell death (ICD) of cancer cells evoked by PTT will be further enhanced by the released reactive reagent. As a result, the synergistic effect of photothermal treatment and reaction-mediated chemotherapy can suppress the growth of primary tumor, and the evoked ICD will further activate the immune response with the suppression of distant tumor. This synergistic treatment strategy provides a reliable and promising approach for cancer immunotherapy in clinic.