Nanomedicine has been developed for cancer therapy over several decades, while rapid clearance from blood circulation by reticuloendothelial system (RES) severely limits nanomedicine antitumour efficacy. We design a series of nanogels with distinctive stiffness and investigate how nanogel mechanical properties could be leveraged to overcome RES. Stiff nanogels are injected preferentially to abrogate uptake capacity of macrophages and temporarily block RES, relying on inhibition of clathrin and prolonged liver retention. Afterwards, soft nanogels deliver doxorubicin (DOX) with excellent efficiency, reflected in high tumour accumulation, deep tumour penetration and outstanding antitumour efficacy. In this work, we combine the advantage of stiff nanogels in RES-blockade with the superiority of soft nanogels in drug delivery leads to the optimum tumour inhibition effect, which is defined as mechano-boosting antitumour strategy. Clinical implications of stiffness-dependent RES-blockade are also confirmed by promoting antitumour efficacy of commercialized nanomedicines, such as Doxil and Abraxane.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has recently emerged as an approach to enhance intratumoral accumulation of nanoparticles. However, conventional PDT is greatly limited by the inability of the excitation light to sufficiently penetrate tissue, rendering PDT ineffective in the relatively deep tumors. To address this limitation, we developed a novel PDT platform and reported for the first time the effect of deep-tissue PDT on nanoparticle uptake in tumors. This platform employed c(RGDyK)-conjugated upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which facilitate active targeting of the nanoconstruct to tumor vasculature and achieve the deep-tissue photosensitizer activation by NIR light irradiation. Results indicated that our PDT system efficiently enhanced intratumoral uptake of different nanoparticles in a deep-seated tumor model. The optimal light dose for deep-tissue PDT (34 mW/cm 2 ) was determined and the most robust permeability enhancement was achieved by administering the nanoparticles within 15 minutes following PDT treatment. Further, a two-step treatment strategy was developed and validated featuring the capability of improving the therapeutic efficacy of Doxil while simultaneously reducing its cardiotoxicity. This two-step treatment resulted in a tumor inhibition rate of 79% compared with 56% after Doxil treatment alone. These findings provide evidence in support of the clinical application of deep-tissue PDT for enhanced nano-drug delivery.
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