Immunogenic Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer Using Targeted Carbon Nanotube Mediated Photothermal Therapy in Combination with Anti-Programmed Cell Death Protein-1.

The high prevalence of breast cancer is a global health concern, compounded by the lack of safe or effective treatments for its advanced stages. These facts urge the development of novel treatment strategies. Annexin A5 (ANXA5) is a natural human protein that binds with high specificity to phosphatidylserine, a phospholipid tightly maintained in the inner leaflet of the cell membrane on most healthy cells but externalized in tumor cells and the tumor vasculature.

Annexin A5 as a targeting agent for cancer treatment.

Identifying a universal biomarker for cancer treatment remains a major challenge in cancer therapy. Extracellular exposure of phosphatidylserine (PS) is tightly regulated and is an "eat me" signal for phagocytosis in healthy cells. Although cancer cells and vasculature express high levels of externalized PS, they do not undergo apoptosis, making them a promising biomarker for cancer treatment.

Targeted Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Photothermal Therapy Combined with Immune Checkpoint Inhibition for the Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer.

The greatest contributors to cancer mortality are metastasis and the consequences of its treatment. Here, we present a novel treatment of metastatic breast cancer that combines photothermal therapy with targeted single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and immunostimulation with a checkpoint inhibitor. We find that the selective near-infrared photothermal ablation of primary orthotopic EMT6 breast tumors in syngeneic BALB/cJ mice using an annexin A5 (ANXA5) functionalized SWCNT bioconjugate synergistically enhances an anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (anti-CTLA-4)-dependent abscopal response, resulting in an increased survival (55%) at 100 days after tumor inoculation.

Injectable, porous, biohybrid hydrogels incorporating decellularized tissue components for soft tissue applications.

Unlabelled: Biodegradable injectable hydrogels have been extensively studied and evaluated in various medical applications such as for bulking agents, drug delivery reservoirs, temporary barriers, adhesives, and cell delivery matrices. Where injectable hydrogels are intended to facilitate a healing response, it may be desirable to encourage rapid cellular infiltration into the hydrogel volume from the tissue surrounding the injection site. In this study, we developed a platform technique to rapidly form pores in a thermally responsive injectable hydrogel, poly(NIPAAm-co-VP-co-MAPLA) by using mannitol particles as porogens.