Issue 21, 2023

Erythrocyte membrane-camouflaged DNA-functionalized upconversion nanoparticles for tumor-targeted chemotherapy and immunotherapy

Abstract

A synergistic combination of treatment with immunogenic cell death (ICD) inducers and immunoadjuvants may be a practical way to boost the anticancer response and successfully induce an immune response. The use of HR@UCNPs/CpG-Apt/DOX, new biomimetic drug delivery nanoparticles generated to combat breast cancer, is reported here as a unique strategy to produce immunogenicity and boost cancer immunotherapy. HR@UCNPs/CpG-Apt/DOX (HR-UCAD) consists of two parts. The core is composed of an immunoadjuvant CpG (a toll-like receptor 9 agonist) fused with a dendritic cell-specific aptamer sequence (CpG-Apt) to decorate upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) with the successful intercalation of doxorubicin (DOX) into the consecutive base pairs of Apt-CpG to construct an immune nanodrug UCNPs@CpG-Apt/DOX. The targeting molecule hyaluronic acid (HA) was inserted into a red blood cell membrane (RBCm) to form the shell (HR). HR-UCAD possessed a strong capacity to specifically induce ICD. Following DOX-induced ICD of cancer cells, sufficient exposure to tumor antigens and UCNPs@CpG-Apt (UCA) activated the tumor-specific immune response and reversed the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. In addition, HR-UCAD has good biocompatibility and increases the active tumor-targeting effect. Furthermore, HR-UCAD exhibits excellent near-infrared upconversion luminescence emission at 804 nm under irradiation with a 980 nm laser, which has great potential in biomedical imaging. Thus, the RBCm-camouflaged drug delivery system is a promising targeted chemotherapy and immunotherapy nanocomplex that could be used for effective targeted breast cancer treatment.

Graphical abstract: Erythrocyte membrane-camouflaged DNA-functionalized upconversion nanoparticles for tumor-targeted chemotherapy and immunotherapy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 2 2023
Accepted
02 4 2023
First published
25 4 2023

Nanoscale, 2023,15, 9457-9476

Erythrocyte membrane-camouflaged DNA-functionalized upconversion nanoparticles for tumor-targeted chemotherapy and immunotherapy

Q. Kou, Y. Huang, Y. Su, L. Lu, X. Li, H. Jiang, R. Huang, J. Li and X. Nie, Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 9457 DOI: 10.1039/D3NR00542A

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