Qiu Chen,Hong Xiao,Lijun Hu,Yongquan Huang,Zhong Cao,Xintao Shuai,Zhongzhen Su
Treatment of highly aggressive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in the clinic is challenging. Here, a liposome nanodrug (LP@PFH@HMME) integrating imaging agents and therapeutic agents for bimodal imaging-guided sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is developed, which boosted immunogenicity to enable potent immunotherapy via immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) in TNBC. In the acidic tumor microenvironment (TME), LP@PFH@HMME undergoes “nano-to-micro” transformation due to a pH-responsive lipid fusion, which makes droplets much more sensitive to ultrasound (US) in contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and SDT studies. The nanodrug demonstrates robust bimodal imaging ability through fluorine-19 magnetic resonance imaging ( 19 F MRI) and CEUS bimodal imaging, and it exhibits excellent solubility in aqueous solution with relatively high 19 F content and desirable long transverse relaxation time (T 2 = 1.072 s), making it suitable for high-performance 19 F MRI, in addition to effective accumulation of nanodrugs after tail vein injection. Thus, 19 F MRI/CEUS dual imaging is achievable to show adequate time points for US irradiation of tumor sites to induce highly effective SDT, which produces abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) triggering immunogenic cell death (ICD) to assist ICB-based immunotherapy. The combination treatment design of sonodynamic therapy with immunotherapy effectively inhibited TNBC growth and recurrence, highlighting the promise of multifunctional nanodrugs in treating TNBC.
Thermal ablation (TA), as a minimally invasive therapeutic technique, has been extensively used to the treatment of solid tumors, such as renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which, unfortunately, still fails to overcome the high risk of local recurrence and distant metastasis since the incomplete ablation cannot be ignored due to various factors such as the indistinguishable tumor margins and limited ablation zone. Herein, we report the injectable thermosensitive hydrogel by confining curcumin (Cur)-loaded hollow mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles ( [email protected] @gel) which can locate in tumor site more than half a month and mop up the residual RCC under ultrasound (US) irradiation after transforming from colloidal sol status to elastic gel matrix at physiological temperature. Based on the US-triggered accelerated diffusion of the model chemotherapy drug with multi-pharmacologic functions, the sustained and controlled release of Cur has been demonstrated in vitro . Significantly, US is employed as an external energy to trigger Cur, as a sonosensitizer also, to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) for sonodynamic tumor therapy (SDT) in parallel. Tracking by the three-dimensional contrast-enhanced ultrasound (3D-CEUS) imaging, the typical decreased blood perfusions have been observed since the residual xenograft tumor after incomplete TA were effectively suppressed during the chemo-sonodynamic therapy process. The high in vivo biocompatibility and biodegradability of the multifunctional nanoplatform confined by thermogel provide the potential of their further clinical translation for the solid tumor eradication under the guidance and monitoring of 3D-CEUS.
Li Xu,Jing Du,Caifeng Wan,Yu Zhang,Shaowei Xie,Hongli Li,Hong Yang,Fenghua Li
Background The development of nanoscale molecularly targeted ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) with high affinity and specificity is critical for ultrasound molecular imaging in the early detection of breast cancer. Purpose To prospectively evaluate ultrasound molecular imaging with dual-targeted gold nanoshelled poly(lactide-co-glycolic acid) nanocapsules carrying vascular endothelial growth factor receptor type 2 (VEGFR2) and p53 antibodies (DNCs) in MCF-7 orthotopic mice model. Methods DNCs were fabricated with an inner PLGA and outer gold nanoshell spherical structure. Its targeting capabilities were evaluated by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and flow cytometry (FCM) in vitro. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging (CEUS) with DNCs was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively in vitro and in MCF-7 orthotopic mice model by two different systems. The biodistribution of NCs in mice was preliminary investigated. Differences were calculated by using analysis of variance. Results DNCs showed a well-defined spherical morphology with an average diameter of 276.90±110.50 nm. In vitro, DNCs exhibited high target specificities (79.01±5.63% vs. 2.11±1.07%, P <0.01; 75.54±6.58% vs. 5.21±3.12%, P <0.01) in VEGFR2- and p53-positive cells compared with control cells. In vivo, CEUS displayed a significantly higher video intensity in two systems using DNCs in comparison with non-targeted PLGA@Au NCs and single-targeted NCs. Biodistribution studies revealed that more DNCs in breast cancer tissue could be detected in mice than in other NCs ( P <0.05). Conclusion DNCs were demonstrated to be novel dual-targeted UCAs and may have potential applications in early non-invasive visualization of breast cancer.