Degradable Carbon–Silica Nanocomposite with Immunoadjuvant Property for Dual-Modality Photothermal/Photodynamic Therapy
Hongyu Wang, Xueting Pan, Xiaotong Wang, Weiwei Wang, Zhijun Huang, Kai Gu, Shuang Liu, Fengrong Zhang, Heyun Shen, Qipeng Yuan, Jie Ma, Wei Yuan, Huiyu Liu
Abstract
Carbon nanomaterials have flourished for cancer therapy for decades. However, their practical applications on clinical bases still pose a challenge to address the dilemma of metabolism in vivo. In this study, an attempt is made to design a degradable carbon–silica nanocomposite (CSN) with immunoadjuvant property, which could undergo an enzyme-free degradation process into small particles (∼5 nm) and facilitate its clinical application. CSN harbors photothermal and photodynamic properties and as an immunoadjuvant would help to generate tumor-associated antigens and mature dendritic cells (DCs). Potent antitumor effects have been achieved in both 4T1 and patient-derived xenograft tumor models with tumor inhibition efficiencies of 93.2% and 92.5%, respectively. We believe that this strategy will benefit the possible clinical translation and carbon–silica-nanomaterial-based cancer therapy.