Gold nanorods-mediated efficient synergistic immunotherapy for detection and inhibition of postoperative tumor recurrence

Abstract

Tumor recurrence after surgery is the main cause of treatment failure. However, the initial stage of recurrence is not easy to detect, and it is difficult to cure in the late stage. In order to improve the life quality of postoperative patients, an efficient synergistic immunotherapy was developed to achieve early diagnosis and treatment of post-surgical tumor recurrence, simultaneously. In this paper, two kinds of theranostic agents based on gold nanorods (AuNRs) platform were prepared. AuNRs and quantum dots (QDs) in one agent was used for the detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) technology to indicate the occurrence of in situ recurrence, while AuNRs in the other agent was used for photothermal therapy (PTT), together with anti-PDL1 mediated immunotherapy to alleviate the process of tumor metastasis. A series of assays indicated that this synergistic immunotherapy could induce tumor cell death and the increased generation of CD3 + /CD4 + T-lymphocytes and CD3 + /CD8 + T-lymphocytes. Besides, more immune factors (IL-2, IL-6, and IFN- γ ) produced by synergistic immunotherapy were secreted than mono-immunotherapy. This cooperative immunotherapy strategy could be utilized for diagnosis and treatment of postoperative tumor recurrence at the same time, providing a new perspective for basic and clinical research.

Circulating tumor cells: biology and clinical significance

“…Nanomaterials have a large surfaceto-volume ratio and allow CTC isolation at high specificity and CTC detection at high sensitivity by adsorbing numbers of targeting ligands to bind specific molecules on cancer cells. At present, studies have reported many types of nanomaterials (Table 2) for CTC detection, including magnetic nanoparticles [213][214][215][216][217] , gold nanoparticles [218][219][220] , and quantum dots [221][222][223] . For example, studies have shown that the utilization of tannic acidfunctionalized magnetic nanoparticles 214 , CoFe2O4@Ag magnetic nanohybrids 216 , and peptide-based magnetic nanoparticle 213 , enhances the capture efficiency of CTCs in breast cancer patients.…”

Gold Nanoparticles: Construction for Drug Delivery and Application in Cancer Immunotherapy

“…Moreover, cytokines loaded onto AuNPs not only avoid systemic inflammatory reactions, but their release can also be controlled. For example, Zhang et al utilised the photothermal properties of AuNPs to regulate the release of cytokine IFN-γ, resulting in approximately 59% cumulative release over 96 h. This approach significantly inhibits postoperative recurrence of lung cancer [ 228 ]. Moreover, when combined with IFN-γ, AuNPs exhibit a synergistic effect with ICIs.…”

Immunogenic hydrogel toolkit disturbing residual tumor “seeds” and pre-metastatic “soil” for inhibition of postoperative tumor recurrence and metastasis

“…Surgery is currently the main modality to eliminate breast cancer in clinical practice, but recurrence and metastasis after surgery are still common 1 , 2 . Due to incomplete resection, residual tumors in surgical incision are tiny, scattered, and difficult to be targeted by postoperative intervention of conventional chemotherapy or radiotherapy 3 , 4 . Immunotherapy that harnesses the host's own immunity to recognize and attack the residual tumors is a promising option 5 , 6 , 7 , but still plagued with postsurgical challenges.…”