ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1616539
This article is part of the Research TopicNanotechnology-Based Delivery Systems for Cancer TreatmentView all 4 articles
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded Au nanodots: A self-amplifying immunotherapeutic depot for photothermal immunotherapy
Provisionally accepted
- Public Health and Clinical Center of Chengdu, Chengdu, China
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Photothermal therapy (PTT) has emerged as a highly promising approach for cancer treatment, owing to its advantages of localized treatment, controllable irradiation, and non-invasive nature. In this study, we present a multifunctional platform for tumor PTT based on Au nanoparticles-decorated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN@Au). Under 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation, MSN@Au demonstrates exceptional photothermal efficiency, leading to significant inhibition of tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, the mild yet effective PTT performance of MSN@Au not only induces direct tumor cell damage but also promotes an enhanced immune response through photothermal effect-mediated immunogenic cell death (ICD). This phenomenon fosters the activation and infiltration of cytotoxic T cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME). Notably, the induction of ICD facilitates the maturation of dendritic cells, further enhancing T cell priming and anti-tumor immunity. This study underscores the strategic design of PTT agents that not only induce ICD but also modulate the immunosuppressive TME, effectively amplifies the therapeutic efficacy of PTT. This integrated approach opens new avenues for the development of next-generation nanoplatforms that synergize photothermal treatment with immune modulation, offering a promising strategy for the treatment of solid tumors.
Keywords: Au nanodots, Mesoporous silica nanoparticles, Photothermal immunotherapy, Immunogenic cell death, T-cell infiltration
Received: 23 Apr 2025; Accepted: 03 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wang, Huang and An. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Qi An, Public Health and Clinical Center of Chengdu, Chengdu, China
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