Plasmonic gold nanostars for synergistic photoimmunotherapy to treat cancer

Yang Liu; Ericka Chorniak; Ren Odion; Wiguins Etienne; Smita K Nair; Paolo Maccarini; Gregory M Palmer; Brant A Inman; Tuan Vo-Dinh

doi:10.1515/nanoph-2021-0237

Plasmonic gold nanostars for synergistic photoimmunotherapy to treat cancer

Nanophotonics. 2021 Aug 27;10(12):3295-3302. doi: 10.1515/nanoph-2021-0237. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Authors

Yang Liu^{1

2

3}, Ericka Chorniak⁴, Ren Odion^{1

3}, Wiguins Etienne⁵, Smita K Nair^{6

7

8}, Paolo Maccarini^{3

9}, Gregory M Palmer^{3

4}, Brant A Inman^{3

5}, Tuan Vo-Dinh^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
² Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
³ Fitzpatrick Institute of Photonics, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
⁴ Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA.
⁵ Division of Urology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA.
⁶ Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA.
⁷ Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA.
⁸ Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA.
⁹ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.

Abstract

Cancer is the second leading cause of death and there is an urgent need to improve cancer management. We have developed an innovative cancer therapy named Synergistic Immuno Photothermal Nanotherapy (SYMPHONY) by combining gold nanostars (GNS)-mediated photothermal ablation with checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy. Our previous studies have demonstrated that SYMPHONY photoimmunotherapy not only treats the primary tumor but also dramatically amplifies anticancer immune responses in synergy with checkpoint blockade immunotherapy to treat remote and unresectable cancer metastasis. The SYMPHONY treatment also induces a 'cancer vaccine' effect leading to immunologic memory and prevents cancer recurrence in murine animal models. This manuscript provides an overview of our research activities on the SYMPHONY therapy with plasmonic GNS for cancer treatment.

Keywords: cancer; gold nanostars; photoimmunotherapy.

Publication types

Review