Ferritin Nanocaged Doxorubicin Potentiates Chemo-Immunotherapy against Hepatocellular Carcinoma via Immunogenic Cell Death

作者：Chen, Yang; Zeng, Linyuan; Zhu, Hongzhang; Wu, Qifei; Liu, Rong; Liang, Qian; Chen, Bin; Dai, Haitao; Tang, Keyu; Liao, Changli; Huang, Yonghui; Yan, Xiyun; Fan, Kelong^*; Du, Jin-Zhi^*; Lin, Run^*; Wang, Jun

来源：Small Methods, 2022.

DOI：10.1002/smtd.202201086

• cancer immunotherapy
• ferritin nanocarriers
• immunogenic cell death
• liver cancer

Although immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma using immune checkpoint inhibitors has achieved certain success, only a subset of patients benefits from this therapeutic strategy. The combination of immunostimulatory chemotherapeutics represents a promising strategy to enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy. However, it is hampered by the poor delivery of conventional chemotherapeutics. Here, it is shown that H-ferritin nanocages loaded with doxorubicin (DOX@HFn) show potent chemo-immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma tumor models. DOX@HFn is constructed with uniform size, high stability, favorable drug loading, and intracellular acidity-driven drug release. The receptor-mediated targeting of DOX@HFn to liver cancer cells promote cellular uptake and tumor penetration in vitro and in vivo. DOX@HFn triggers immunogenic cell death to tumor cells and promotes the subsequent activation and maturation of dendritic cells. In vivo studies in H22 subcutaneous hepatoma demonstrate that DOX@HFn significantly inhibits the tumor growth with >30% tumors completely eliminated, while alleviating the systemic toxicity of free DOX. DOX@HFn also exhibits robust antitumor immune response and tumoricidal effect in a more aggressive Hepa1-6 orthotopic liver tumor model, which is confirmed by the in situ magnetic resonance imaging and transcriptome sequencing. This study provides a facile and robust strategy to improve therapeutic efficacy of liver cancer.

• 单位
  1; 西安交通大学; 中国科学院; 南昌大学; 中山大学