Photothermal therapy with immune-adjuvant nanoparticles together with checkpoint blockade for effective cancer immunotherapy

Nanoparticles jolt immune system to work against cancer in mice

30 May 2017

Tiny laser-triggered nanoparticles can wipe out targeted tumours in mice, and prime the immune system to eliminate more remote cancers with the help of systemic immune-activating drugs.

Researchers at Soochow University’s Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials combined three clinically approved products — a biodegradable plastic, an immune response modifying drug, and a chemical that gives off immense heat in the presence of near-infrared light — into a single nanoparticle much narrower than a hair.

They implanted mice with either breast or colon cancer cells at two sites in the body to mimic a primary tumour and a distant metastasis. They then injected the nanoparticles into one tumour and shone the laser. This destroyed the targeted tumour and primed the body for an anti-cancer response. Adding a so-called checkpoint inhibitor that attacks a critical negative regulator of immune cells helped destroy the non-targeted tumours as well.

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References

1. Nature Communications 7, 13193 (2016). doi: 10.1038/ncomms13193