Photothermal immunotherapy of melanoma using TLR-7 agonist laden tobacco mosaic virus with polydopamine coat

  • Nanomedicine. 2022 Aug;44:102573. doi: 10.1016/j.nano.2022.102573.
Christian Isalomboto Nkanga  1 ,  Oscar A Ortega-Rivera  2 ,  Nicole F Steinmetz  3
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of NanoEngineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92039, United States.
  • 2. Department of NanoEngineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92039, United States; Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92039, United States.
  • 3. Department of NanoEngineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92039, United States; Department of Bioengineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92039, United States; Department of Radiology, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92039, United States; Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92039, United States; Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92039, United States; Institute for Materials Discovery and Design, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92039, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 35728739 DOI: 10.1016/j.nano.2022.102573
Abstract

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a promising Cancer treatment that debulks tumors locally while priming immune responses. However, PTT as a standalone treatment approach often has limited systemic efficacy, motivating the development of synergistic combination approaches. Toward this goal, herein, the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) was loaded with a small molecule immunomodulator, Toll-like Receptor 7 agonist (1V209), and its surface was coated with photothermal biopolymer polydopamine (PDA). The resulting 1V209-laden and PDA-coated TMV was used to treat B16F10 dermal melanoma in C57BL/6 mice. 1V209-TMV-PDA was intratumorally injected and irradiated using an 808-nm near infrared laser. 60 % of the mice receiving PTT with intratumoral 1V209-TMV-PDA + laser remained alive at the end point - in contrast to only 20 % survivors were observed in the control group. Immunological analysis indicates systemic anti-tumor immunity being induced by the combination therapy with a greater number of tumor-specific T cells (as determined by a splenocyte assay). This study highlights the potential of TMV versatility as a multifunctional nano-platform for combined PTT-immunotherapy.

Keywords
Anti-tumor immunotherapy; Melanoma; Nanoparticles; Photothermal therapy; Polydopamine; TLR-7 agonist; Tobacco mosaic virus.
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