Tumor cell surface modification with immuno-amplified nanoparticles to enhance cancer immunotherapy

The process of cancer immunogenic cell death (ICD) provides adjuvanticity and antigenicity from dying tumor cells, thereby stimulating host immune system and promoting antitumor immunity. However, due to the immune evasion of tumor cells and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment formed in the process of cancer progression, it is far from satisfactory in the efficacy of the cancer treatments based on ICD. Herein, we report an immuno-amplified nanoparticle (IANP) that can modify mannose onto the tumor cell surface while delivering ICD-inducing drug doxorubicin (DOX) into the tumor cytoplasm. IANP consists of a DOX-loaded polymer core encapsulated within a mannose modified, fusogenic liposome. After reaching tumor cells, IANP achieved to transfer the mannose groups onto the surface of tumor cells through membrane fusion, and simultaneously transport the polymer core into tumor cells for DOX delivery. With this unique ability, IANP triggered the ICD of tumor cells and facilitated the activation of dendritic cells (DCs) via the mannose-C-type lectin receptors (CLRs) interaction, leading to the enhanced immunogenic effects of chemotherapy-induced tumor cell death. As a result, intratumoral injection of IANP achieved to trigger ICD of tumor cells and enhance the anti-tumor immune responses, thereby suppressing the tumor growth effectively. This work demonstrated a potential strategy towards the development of novel ICD-based cancer immunotherapies.