Tumor-targeted nanodrug FSGG/siGal-9 for transdermal photothermal immunotherapy of melanoma

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a cancer-targeted treatment approach.The occurrence of tumors may be related to microbial infections (Viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc.), which probably provokes anti-tumor immunity. However, T cells in the context of cancer become exhausted and dysfunctional. Galectin-9 (Gal-9) is highly expressed in normal tissues and associates with body immune tolerance, and was firstly evidenced with much higher expression on the primary solid tumors than CD80/86 (B7) and CD274 (PD-L1) here, which suggests that Gal-9 may be a key factor in inhibiting the anti-tumor immunity, and its receptor T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3 (TIM-3) was discovered on the cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) with high expression as well based on the single cell analysis. The immune checkpoint communications showed that the Gal-9/TIM-3 axis played the most vital role on negatively regulating the anti-tumor immunity of CTL for melanoma. Then, we used a novel transdermal photothermal nanosensitizer (FSGG) loading Gal-9 siRNA (FSGG/siGal-9) for knocking the tumor cells down Gal-9 to block the Gal-9/TIM-3 axis and prohibit CTL exhaustion synergizing PTT against melanoma, which evidenced good effects on inhibiting tumor growth and enhancing anti-tumor immunity, named “photothermal immunotherapy”. This paper provides a new perspective for tumor prevention and treatment.