Artificial Engineered Natural Killer Cells Combined with Antiheat Endurance as a Powerful Strategy for Enhancing Photothermal-Immunotherapy Efficiency of Solid Tumors.

Although photothermal therapy (PTT) is preclinically applied in solid tumor treatment, incomplete tumor removal of PTT and heat endurance of tumor cells induces significant tumor relapse after treatment, therefore lowering the therapeutic efficiency of PTT. Herein, a programmable therapeutic strategy that integrates photothermal therapeutic agents (PTAs), DNAzymes, and artificial engineered natural killer (A-NK) cells for immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is designed. The novel PTAs, termed as Mn-CONASHs, with 2D structure are synthesized by the coordination of tetrahydroxyanthraquinone and Mn ions.

Folic acid-modified Prussian blue/polydopamine nanoparticles as an MRI agent for use in targeted chemo/photothermal therapy.

Fabricating multifunctional theranostic nanoparticles is highly pursued but still challenging for effective cancer treatment. Herein is reported a new theranostic nanoagent as both an MRI and targeted chemo/photothermal therapeutic agent. Prussian blue nanoparticles (PB) were first decorated with polydopamine (PDA), then conjugated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and folic acid (FA), and finally loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) (denoted as PB@PDA@PEG-FA-DOX).

Near-Infrared Light Activated Thermosensitive Ion Channel to Remotely Control Transgene System for Thrombolysis Therapy.

Current antithrombotic therapeutic strategies often suffer from severe post-thrombotic syndromes (PTS), inconvenient daily subcutaneous injections for a long time and short circulation times accompanied by a dose-dependent risk of intracranial hemorrhage. Aiming at noninvasive, on-demand, and sustained antithrombotic therapy, a new thrombolysis approach based on the transgene system has been developed to remotely and precisely control the expression of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) by bioengineered cells for antithrombotic therapy both in vitro and in vivo. In this design, the near-infrared (NIR) light could activate the expression of the thermosensitive TRPV1 channel in response to photothermal responsive nanotransducers to trigger the synthetic signaling pathway to secret uPA.

Photocatalysis Enhancement for Programmable Killing of Hepatocellular Carcinoma through Self-Compensation Mechanisms Based on Black Phosphorus Quantum-Dot-Hybridized Nanocatalysts.

Recently reported black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) possess unique photocatalysis activities. However, the environmental instability accompanied by a hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME) seriously hindered the bioapplications of BPQDs, especially in oxygen-dependent photodynamic therapy (PDT). Here, we construct a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-specific targeting aptamer "TLS11a"-decorated BPQDs-hybridized nanocatalyst, which can specifically target HCC tumor cells and self-compensate oxygen (O) into hypoxic TME for enhancing PDT efficiency.

Self-Luminescing Theranostic Nanoreactors with Intraparticle Relayed Energy Transfer for Tumor Microenvironment Activated Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy.

The low tissue penetration depth of external excitation light severely hinders the sensitivity of fluorescence imaging (FL) and the efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) ; thus, rational theranostic platforms that overcome the light penetration depth limit are urgently needed. To overcome this crucial problem, we designed a self-luminescing nanosystem (denoted POCL) with near-infrared (NIR) light emission and singlet oxygen (O) generation abilities utilizing an intraparticle relayed resonance energy transfer strategy. Bis[3,4,6-trichloro-2-(pentyloxycarbonyl) phenyl] oxalate (CPPO) as a chemical energy source with high reactivity toward HO, poly[(9,9'-dioctyl-2,7-divinylene-fluorenylene)-alt-2-methoxy- 5-(2-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene] (PFPV) as a highly efficient chemiluminescence converter, and tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) as a photosensitizer with NIR emission and O generation abilities were coencapsulated by self-assembly with poly(ethyleneglycol)-co-poly(caprolactone) (PEG-PCL) and folate-PEG-cholesterol to form the POCL nanoreactor, with folate as the targeting group.

Facile preparation of biocompatible TiO nanoparticles for second near-infrared window photothermal therapy.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is emerging as a powerful tool for the treatment of cancer. However, typical photothermal agents are excited by conventional near-infrared light (NIR-I, 700-900 nm), which leads to low tissue penetration and significantly hinders their further application. Compared with NIR-I light, the second NIR optical window light (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) can remarkably increase the tissue penetration depth; however, photothermal agents in this optical window are extremely limited and need to be further explored.

pH/hypoxia programmable triggered cancer photo-chemotherapy based on a semiconducting polymer dot hybridized mesoporous silica framework.

Although photothermal therapy (PTT) has become a compelling strategy for cancer therapy, few studies concern the physiological consequences of PTT ablation. Herein, we discover that PTT-induced hyperthermia can aggravate tumor hypoxia, which may increase the risk of tumor recurrence and reduce PTT efficacy. We thus integrated the pH/hypoxia-triggered Fe(iii)-banoxantrone (AQ4N) prodrug and semiconducting polymer dots (SPs) for programmable triggered cancer photothermal-chemotherapy.

Semiconducting polymer-based nanoparticles for photothermal therapy at the second near-infrared window.

We designed novel diketopyrrolopyrrole polymer based nanoparticles (DPP-IID-FA), which exhibited strong light absorption and excellent photothermal conversion in the NIR optical window, and displayed high biocompatibility and photostability. Furthermore, our nanoparticles could be efficiently uptaken by cancer cells and exhibited outstanding anticancer ability both in vitro and in vivo under NIR-II laser irradiation.

Light-Enhanced Hypoxia-Response of Conjugated Polymer Nanocarrier for Successive Synergistic Photodynamic and Chemo-Therapy.

The tumor hypoxic environment as well as photodynamic therapy (PDT)-induced hypoxia could severely limit the therapeutic efficacy of traditional PDT. Fortunately, the smart integration of hypoxia-responsive drug delivery system with PDT might be a promising strategy to enhance the PDT efficiency that is hindered by the hypoxic environment. Herein, a novel azobenzene (AZO) containing conjugated polymers (CPs)-based nanocarriers (CPs-CPT-Ce6 NPs) was constructed for the combination of PDT with chemotherapy, as well as to enhance the hypoxia-responsive drug release by light.