Reprogramming Tumor Microenvironment with Photothermal Therapy

Abstract

The tumor microenvironment significantly influences cancer progression and therapeutic response. Reprogramming of tumor microenvironment has emerged as a strategy to assist conventional cancer treatment. In recent years, photothermal therapy has received considerable attention owing to its noninvasiveness, high temporal–spatial resolution, and minimal drug resistance. Apart from ablating cancer cells by generating heat upon light irradiation, photothermal therapy can also affect the tumor microenvironment, such as disrupting the tumor extracellular matrix and tumor vasculature. Moreover, cancer cell death by hyperthermia could potentially activate the immune system to fight against tumor. In this topical review, we focus on the recent progress of photothermal therapy based on tumor microenvironment remodeling, aiming to better guide the design of nanoparticles for cancer photoimmunotherapy.

Vascular and extracellular matrix remodeling by physical approaches to improve drug delivery at the tumor site

“…Currently, accepted temperature to be reached by this technique is ranging from 39 to 43 °C [72]. Today this topic is well documented and, for thorough description, we invite the reader to go through the following reviews and references [8,[73][74][75]. Historically, the local increase of temperature in the tumour was assessed by physicians as being the best way to cure cancer.…”

Current Prospects for Treatment of Solid Tumors via Photodynamic, Photothermal, or Ionizing Radiation Therapies Combined with Immune Checkpoint Inhibition (A Review)

“…Upon returning to its ground state by vibrational relaxation, the excited photothermal agent emits kinetic energy, heating the surrounding tissue, and causing thermal damage to the tumor microenvironment. Unlike PDT, in which PS is excited with a specific wavelength light to generate ROS in the presence of oxygen, PTT does not require oxygen in order to interact with target cells or tissues [ 14 , 116 , 118 ]. Recently developed PTAs use longer wavelengths of light, which not only penetrate deeper into the tissue, but are also less energetic and therefore less harmful to surrounding cells and tissues.…”

A Highly Efficient One-for-All Nanodroplet for Ultrasound Imaging-Guided and Cavitation-Enhanced Photothermal Therapy

“…[1][2][3] However, the challenges for its clinical applications include insufficient photothermal ablation, limited penetration depth and general concerns regarding the fabrication and use of complex nanosystems in vivo. [4][5][6][7] To overcome such limitations, several nanosystems constructed with high efficient PTT agents that integrated multiple imaging modalities and therapeutic functions have attracted much attention recently. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] As a promising theranostic agent, the NIR responsive perfluorocarbon (PFC) nanodroplets have been widely used for multimodal imaging guided PTT of tumors due to their ability of phase transition from nanodroplets to microbubbles.…”

“…[4][5][6][7] To overcome such limitations, several nanosystems constructed with high efficient PTT agents that integrated multiple imaging modalities and therapeutic functions have attracted much attention recently. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] As a promising theranostic agent, the NIR responsive perfluorocarbon (PFC) nanodroplets have been widely used for multimodal imaging guided PTT of tumors due to their ability of phase transition from nanodroplets to microbubbles. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] During the PTT, the phase transition can be triggered by a localized hyperthermia, and the generated microbubbles in situ are effective contrast agents for ultrasound (US) imaging, which is an established non-invasive, low cost, and real-time imaging technique.…”