Nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy has been widely studied for cancer treatment. It is important to disclose how photothermally ablated tumor cells trigger immune responses. In this study, bovine serum albumin (BSA)-coated gold nanorods (BSA-coated AuNRs) were prepared and used for photothermal ablation of breast tumor cells. The BSA-coated AuNRs showed high photothermal conversion efficiency and good photothermal ablation effect towards tumor cells. The ablated tumor cells were co-cultured with immature dendritic cells (DCs) through a direct cell contacting model and diffusion model to confirm the stimulatory effects of cell⁻cell interaction and soluble factors released from ablated tumor cells. The results indicated that photothermally ablated tumor cells induced immune-stimulatory responses of DCs through both cell⁻cell interaction and soluble factors. The results should be useful for synergistic photothermal-immunotherapy of primary and metastatic cancer.
Keywords: cancer therapy; cellular uptake; gold nanorods; immune responses; photothermal ablation; photothermal therapy.