Deep Penetration of Nanolevel Drugs and Micrometer-Level T Cells Promoted by Nanomotors for Cancer Immunochemotherapy

J Am Chem Soc. 2021 Aug 11;143(31):12025-12037. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c03071. Epub 2021 Jul 28.

Abstract

The ability of nanomotors to promote the deep penetration of themselves and the loaded drugs in diseased tissues has been proposed and confirmed. However, whether such motion behavior of the nanomotors can also promote deep penetration of micrometer-sized immune cells in the diseased microenvironment, which is important for the immunotherapy of some diseases, has not been mentioned. Herein, we construct a nitric oxide (NO)-driven nanomotor that can move in the tumor microenvironment, focusing on its motion behavior and the role of NO, the beneficial product released during movement from this kind of nanomotor, in regulating the infiltration behavior and activity of immune cells. It can be found that the drug-loaded nanomotors with both NO-releasing ability and motility can promote the normalization of the tumor vasculature system and the degradation of the intrinsic extracellular matrix (ECM), which can significantly improve the tumor infiltration ability of T cells in vivo. The efficiency of T-cell infiltration in tumor tissue in vivo increased from 2.1 to 28.2%. Both subcutaneous and intraperitoneal implantation tumor models can validate the excellent antitumor effect of drug-loaded NO-driven nanomotors. This combination of motility of the power source from nanomotors and their physiological function offers a design idea for therapeutic agents for the future immunotherapy of many diseases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Breast Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Docetaxel / chemistry
  • Docetaxel / pharmacology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunotherapy
  • MCF-7 Cells
  • Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / pathology
  • Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / therapy
  • Mice
  • Nanostructures / chemistry*
  • Nitric Oxide / chemistry*
  • T-Lymphocytes / drug effects*
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • Tumor Microenvironment / drug effects

Substances

  • Docetaxel
  • Nitric Oxide