Recent Progresses in Phototherapy‐Synergized Cancer Immunotherapy

Abstract

Cancer immunotherapy has recently gained much attention in the search of cancer cure due to its ability to "train" the immune system in seeking out and removing residual tumor cells. However, relying on cancer immunotherapy alone may fail to ablate primary tumors. Phototherapy is a promising modality that offers an elegant solution to eradicate tumors through the simple application of light irradiation and meanwhile triggers immune responses by immunogenic cell death to enhance antitumor immunity. Uniting phototherapy with cancer immunotherapy has been found to achieve synergistic outcomes, promote cancer regression, and even attain immunologic memory. This review summarizes the recent studies on utilizing phototherapy and immunotherapy combinatorial approaches to treat cancer. A variety of nanoplatforms have been investigated in combination with immunoadjuvants and immune checkpoint blockades such as CTLA4 and PD-L1 pathways. Higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines, improved migration of dendritic cells, and an increased ratio of tumor-infiltrating cytotoxic T cells against regulatory T cells are revealedin many studies, offering a glimpse into the mechanistic principles. Future advancements targeting different cancer checkpoints that could offer better immunosuppression coupled with other phototherapeutic strategies remain to be explored in accomplishing complete elimination of cancer.

Artificial Enzyme Catalyzed Cascade Reactions: Antitumor Immunotherapy Reinforced by NIR‐II Light

“…To identify the role of Cu 2− x Te NEs in activating antitumor immunity, we fabricated bilateral tumors at the right and left flanks of mice, and they were were designated as the primary and distant tumors, respectively (Figure a) . The results display that the maturation ratio of dendritic cells was promoted from 9.7 % to 18.6 % after treatment with the Cu 2− x Te NEs (Figure b; see Figure S23).…”

Self‐Assemble Polymeric Nanoparticle with GSH Exhaustion for SPECT Imaging–Guided Enhanced Radioisotope Therapy

“…SPECT Imaging: Mice bearing 4T1 tumor models were i.v. injected with 200 µci of 125 I-HOPA-C18PMH-PEG or 125 I-HOPA-C18PMH-PEG/PL and imaged by small animal SPECT/CT imaging system at different time points (1,4,6,12,24,48, and 72 h). All experiments were conducted in compliance with all relevant ethical regulations.…”

“…Radiotherapy (RT) including radioisotope therapy (RIT) and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) have been widely applied in clinic for cancer treatment . In order to improve the therapeutic efficiency of cancer, RT usually combines other therapies such as chemotherapy, photothermal therapy, or surgery for cancer treatment, further increasing the cure rate .…”

“…Radiotherapy (RT) including radioisotope therapy (RIT) and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) have been widely applied in clinic for cancer treatment. [1][2][3][4][5][6] In order to improve the therapeutic efficiency of cancer, RT usually combines other therapies such as chemotherapy, photothermal therapy, or surgery for cancer treatment, further increasing the cure rate. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] In recent years, various nanomaterials with radioisotope labeling/doping have been used for tumor imaging and combination of RIT and photothermal therapy, realizing great well cancer treatment.…”

Metal‐Organic Sheets for Efficient Drug Delivery and Bioimaging

“…[12] There are many kinds of materials has been synthesized for cancer imaging and therapy. [13] As drug carriers, 2D nanomaterials could facilitate endocytosis. [14] Previous studies revealed that zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) could be generated by a coordination reaction between 2-methylimidazole (Hmim) and Zn 2 + in aqueous phase, [15] in which the molar concentration of Hmim is much higher than that of Zn 2 + .…”