Physiologically triggered injectable red blood cell-based gel for tumor photoablation and enhanced cancer immunotherapy

Ziying Fei; Qin Fan; Huaxing Dai; Xuanfang Zhou; Jialu Xu; Qingle Ma; Atsushi Maruyama; Chao Wang

doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.120724

Physiologically triggered injectable red blood cell-based gel for tumor photoablation and enhanced cancer immunotherapy

Biomaterials. 2021 Apr:271:120724. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.120724. Epub 2021 Feb 18.

Authors

Ziying Fei¹, Qin Fan², Huaxing Dai¹, Xuanfang Zhou¹, Jialu Xu¹, Qingle Ma¹, Atsushi Maruyama³, Chao Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215123, China.
² Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215123, China; Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics & Information Displays (KLOEID), Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210000, China. Electronic address: sophiaqin92@outlook.com.
³ Department of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 B-57, Nagatsuta, Yokohama, 226-8501, Japan. Electronic address: amaruyama@bio.titech.ac.jp.
⁴ Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215123, China. Electronic address: cwang@suda.edu.cn.

PMID: 33636549
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.120724

Abstract

Hydrogels are widely used for drug delivery and tissue engineering. Here we developed a simple injectable red blood cells (RBCs)-based gel for cancer photo-immunotherapy. We find that subcutaneous injected homologous RBCs could form hydrogel-like composition in mice, due to the infiltrated platelets and thrombin under physiological environment. In addition, the formed RBC-gel has photothermal effect under NIR laser exposure on account of deep reddish color. In mice bearing CT26 tumors, we demonstrate photo-immunotherapy of cancer by local injection of imiquimod (R837) adjuvant engineered RBCs. The photothermal effect of the in situ formed RBC-gel effectively burns tumor to release tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), promotes the release of R837 from RBCs to the tumor draining lymph node, thereby activating the lymph node-resident antigen-presenting cells (APCs) remarkably. A durable systemic immune response is induced following the combination treatment of the primary tumor. 100% mice rejected tumor rechallenge and are survived at least 250 days without any detectable tumors. Our strategy highlights the RBCs, the most common type of cell in our blood, as the hydrogel for drug delivery and cancer photo-immunotherapy.

Keywords: Cancer immunotherapy; Erythrocyte; Hydrogel; Photoablation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Line, Tumor
Drug Delivery Systems
Erythrocytes
Hydrogels
Immunotherapy*
Mice
Neoplasms* / therapy

Substances

Hydrogels