Microfluidics-Prepared Uniform Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles for Photo-Triggered Immune Microenvironment Modulation and Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Photothermal therapy (PTT) has shown great promise to spatiotemporally ablate cancer cells, and further understanding of the immune system response to PTT treatment would contribute to improvement in therapeutic outcomes. Herein, we utilize microfluidic technology to prepare biocompatible conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CP NPs) as PTT agents and assess the immune response triggered by CP-based PTT treatment in vitro and in vivo. Through careful control of the antisolvent, CP NPs with a uniform diameter of 52 nm were obtained. The c-RGD-functionalized CP NPs exhibit high photothermal conversion efficiency, inducing effective cancer cell death under an 808 nm laser illumination. Using macrophage cells as the model, CP NPs demonstrate effective activation of proinflammatory immune response. Furthermore, in tumor-bearing mice model, a single round of CP NP-assisted PTT could efficiently induce antitumor immunity activation and ultimately inhibit tumor growth. The study provides detailed understanding of both microfluidic technology for CP NP fabrication and photothermal-triggered antitumor immune responses.

Direct visualization of the ouzo zone through aggregation-induced dye emission for the synthesis of highly monodispersed polymeric nanoparticles

“…Over the past few decades, nanoprecipitation has revolutionized the synthesis of lipid and polymer-based nanoparticles (NPs). [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] It is considered to be a fast, straightforward and reproducible method to synthesize small and monodisperse NPs with size ranges of 20 to 300 nm and polydispersity indices (PDI) of less than 0.2. [9][10][11] To date, the nanoprecipitation method has been used for the synthesis of many drug-loaded NPs and dye-loaded NPs composed of biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, such as poly(lactide-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), poly(lactide-coglycolide)-b-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLGA-PEG), poly(ethylene glycol)b-poly(e-caprolactone) (PEG-b-PCL) and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3phosphoethanolamine-polyethylene glycol (DSPE-mPEG).…”

Surface‐functionalised hybrid nanoparticles for targeted treatment of cancer

“…The results confirmed that PB‐Ft NPs have the capability to inhibit cellular growth of the murine breast cancer cells (4T1) effectively [81]. Similarly, another study utilised microfluidic technology to synthesise biocompatible conjugated polymer NPs (CP NPs) as PTT agents and found out that CP NPs display high photothermal conversion efficacy, inducing effective breast cancer cell death under 808 nm NIR laser illumination [82].…”

Organic nanoparticle-doped microdroplets as dual-modality contrast agents for ultrasound microvascular flow and photoacoustic imaging

“…Same as our previous study, we have fabricated microfluidic coaxial glass capillary mixer and synthesized CP NPs at flow rate of 34 ml/min (Re 320) ( Supplementary Fig. S1 and Supplementary Equation S3) 29,30 . At Re 320, we obtained the CP NPs with an average diameter of 48 nm and polydispersity of 0.14.…”

“…This is also known as solvent displacement based method where the polymers are dissolved in a water miscible organic solvent, and rapid mixing of solvent into anti-solvent (water) results in the spontaneous formation of nanoparticles. Nanoprecipitation through microfluidic glass capillary mixer has gained some attentions as it exhibits tunable physiochemical properties and efficient mixing 28 , 29 . Due to high surface area to volume interaction, microfluidic mixers provide the benefits of enhanced and uniform mixing during NP fabrication.…”