Near-Infrared Photoactivatable Immunomodulatory Nanoparticles for Combinational Immunotherapy of Cancer

Abstract

As a promising treatment option for cancer, immunotherapy can eliminate local and distant metastatic tumors and even prevent recurrence through boosting the body’s immune system. However, immunotherapy often encounters the issues of limited therapeutic efficacy and severe immune-related adverse events in clinical practices, which should be mainly due to the non-specific accumulations of immunotherapeutic agents. Activatable immunomodulatory agents that are responsive to endogenous stimuli in tumor microenvironment can afford controlled immunotherapeutic actions, while they still face certain extent of off-target activation. Since light has the advantages of noninvasiveness, simple controllability and high spatio-temporal selectivity, therapeutic agents that can be activated by light, particularly near-infrared (NIR) light with minimal phototoxicity and strong tissue penetrating ability have been programmed for cancer treatment. In this mini review, we summarize the recent progress of NIR photoactivatable immunomodulatory nanoparticles for combinational cancer immunotherapy. The rational designs, constructions and working mechanisms of NIR photoactivatable agents are first briefly introduced. The uses of immunomodulatory nanoparticles with controlled immunotherapeutic actions upon NIR photoactivation for photothermal and photodynamic combinational immunotherapy of cancer are then summarized. A conclusion and discussion of the existing challenges and further perspectives for the development and clinical translation of NIR photoactivatable immunomodulatory nanoparticles are finally given.

Moving beyond traditional therapies: the role of nanomedicines in lung cancer

“…Their study displayed how combining this OSPS with photothermal and immune effects could structure a photothermal drug delivery system capable of controlled drug release and enhanced antitumor immune responses. Thus, research on metal nanoparticles emphasizes their nano-effect, photothermal effects, and immune effects, giving rise to multi-modal combined therapy strategies that could have immense implications in the imaging, identification, and treatment of lung cancer ( Yu et al, 2021 ).…”

Triggering Immune System With Nanomaterials for Cancer Immunotherapy

“…The field has witnessed the success of approximately 50 nanomedicine therapies approved by the FDA for cancer and other diseases ( Bobo et al, 2016 ). Among the main future ways forward is the combination of nanomedicines with immunotherapy, a therapeutic strategy that has been extensively studied preclinically ( Wang et al, 2018 ; Saeed et al, 2019 ; Sang et al, 2019 ; Sun et al, 2019 ) and is also already being explored in the clinic ( Yu et al, 2021 ).…”

Tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment modulating hydrogels for second near-infrared photothermal-immunotherapy of cancer

“…Photothermal therapy (PTT) that enables the production of heat for tumor thermal ablation via utilizing nanoagents is considered the promising therapeutic strategy for combating malignant tumors owing to the merits of low invasiveness, easy maneuverability, and high temporal-spatial resolution [ 33 ]. Although near-infrared (NIR) light in the first NIR window (NIR-I, range from 650 to 950 ​nm) is often used to mediate PTT, the laser in the bio-window has several inherent defects, including low penetration and limited maximum permissible exposure for skin [ 34 ]. However, the light in the second window (NIR-II, range from 1000 to 1300 ​nm) has recently been conducted for more effective tumor thermal ablation owing to the merits of deeper penetration depth and lower photo-toxicity [ 35 , 36 ].…”