One-Pot Synthesis of Tumor-Microenvironment Responsive Degradable Nanoflower-Medicine for Multimodal Cancer Therapy with Reinvigorating Antitumor Immunity

Multimodal cancer therapies show great promise in synergistically enhancing anticancer efficacy through different mechanisms. However, most current multimodal therapies either rely on complex assemblies of multiple functional nanomaterials and drug molecules or involve the use of nanomedicines with poor in vivo degradability/metabolizability, thus restricting their clinical translatability. Herein, a nanoflower-medicine using iron ions, thioguanine (TG), and tetracarboxylic porphyrin (TCPP) are synthesized as building blocks through a one-step hydrothermal method for combined chemo/chemodynamic/photodynamic cancer therapy. The resulting nanoflowers, consisting of low-density Fe2O3 core and iron complex (Fe-TG and Fe-TCPP compounds) shell, exhibit high accumulation at the tumor site, desirable degradability in the tumor microenvironment (TME), robust suppression of tumor growth and metastasis, as well as effective reinvigoration of host antitumor immunity. Triggered by the low pH in tumor microenvironment, the nanoflowers gradually degrade after internalization, contributing to the effective drug release and initiation of high-efficiency catalytic reactions precisely in tumor sites. Moreover, iron ions can be eliminated from the body through renal clearance after fulfilling their mission. Strikingly, it is also found that the multimodal synergistic therapy effectively elicits the host antitumor immunity without inducing additional toxicity. This easy-manufactured and degradable multimodal therapeutic nanomedicine is promising for clinical precision oncology. An easy-synthesized and biodegradable nanoflower-medicine that effectively suppresses tumor growth and reactivates antitumor immunity through tumor microenvironment (TME)-responsive sequential multimodal synergistic cancer therapy is designed. The proposed TME-responsive degradable nanoflower-medicine can be excreted through kidneys after implementing multimodal therapy, which is highly desirable in clinical precision oncology.image

Automated summary

An easy-synthesized and biodegradable nanoflower-medicine that effectively suppresses tumor growth and reactivates antitumor immunity through tumor microenvironment (TME)-responsive sequential multimodal synergistic cancer therapy is designed. The proposed TME-responsive degradable nanoflower-medicine can be excreted through kidneys after implementing multimodal therapy, which is highly desirable in clinical precision oncology.