Self-delivery of metal-coordinated NIR-II nanoadjuvants for multimodal imaging-guided photothermal-chemodynamic amplified immunotherapy

Abstract

The effectiveness of phototheranostics induced immunotherapy is still hampered by limited light penetration depth, the complex immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) and the low efficiency of immunomodulator drug delivery. Herein, self-delivery and TME responsive NIR-II phototheranostic nanoadjuvants (NAs) were fabricated to suppress the growth and metastasis of melanoma through the integration of photothermal-chemodynamic therapy (PTT-CDT) and immune remodeling. The NAs were constructed by the self-assembly of ultrasmall NIR-II semiconducting polymer dots and the toll-like receptor agonist resiquimod (R848) utilizing manganese ions (Mn²⁺) as coordination nodes. Under acidic TME, the NAs responsively disintegrated and released therapeutic components, which enable NIR-II fluorescence/photoacoustic/magnetic resonance imaging-guided tumor PTT-CDT. Moreover, the synergistic treatment of PTT-CDT could induce significant tumor immunogenic cell death and evoke highly efficacious cancer immunosurveillance. The released R848 stimulated the maturation of dendritic cells, which both amplified the antitumor immune response by modulating and remodeling the TME. The NAs present a promising integration strategy of polymer dot-metal ion coordination and immune adjuvants for precise diagnosis and amplified anti-tumor immunotherapy against deep-seated tumors. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The efficiency of phototheranostics induced immunotherapy is still limited by insufficient light penetration depth, low immune response and the complex immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). In order to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy, self-delivery NIR-II phototheranostic nanoadjuvants (PMR NAs) were successfully fabricated via the facile coordination self-assembly of ultra-small NIR-II semiconducting polymer dots and toll-like receptor agonist resiquimod (R848) utilizing manganese ions (Mn²⁺) as coordination nodes. PMR NAs not only enable TME responsive cargo release and NIR-II fluorescence/photoacoustic/magnetic resonance imaging mediated precise localization of tumors, but also achieve synergistic photothermal-chemodynamic therapy, evoking an effective anti-tumor immune response by ICD effect. The responsively released R848 could further amplify the efficiency of immunotherapy by reversing and remodeling the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, thereby effectively inhibiting tumor growth and lung metastasis.

Keywords: Imaging guided; Immunotherapy; Nanoadjuvants; Second near-infrared window; Self-delivery; Tumor microenvironment responsive.