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Nano Research 2022, 15(3): 2335-2346 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3817-x
Research Article | Issue | Published: 25 September 2021

Self-assembly nanomicelle-microneedle patches with enhanced tumor penetration for superior chemo-photothermal therapy

Show Author's Information Ying Sun1,§,  Minglong Chen1,4,§,  Dan Yang2,  Wanbing Qin3,  Guilan Quan2( ),  Chuanbin Wu2,  Xin Pan1 ( )
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Jieyang Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 522091, China
Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China

§ Ying Sun and Minglong Chen contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
tumor penetration, chemo-photothermal therapy, dissolving microneedle, nanomicelle, superficial tumor
Topics:
Micelles
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Sun Y, Chen M, Yang D, et al. Self-assembly nanomicelle-microneedle patches with enhanced tumor penetration for superior chemo-photothermal therapy. Nano Research, 2022, 15(3): 2335-2346. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3817-x
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Abstract Full text About this article

Nanomedicine with high specificity has been a promising tool for cancer diagnosis and therapy. However, the successful application of nanoparticle-based superficial cancer therapy is severely hindered by restricted deep tumor tissue accumulation and penetration. Herein, a self-assembly nanomicelle dissolving microneedle (DMN) patch according to the “nano in micro” strategy was conducted to co-deliver a first-line chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel (PTX), and a photosensitizer IR780 (PTX/IR780-NMs @DMNs) for chemo-photothermal synergetic melanoma therapy. Upon direct insertion into the tumor site, DMNs created a regular and multipoint three-dimensional drug depot to maximize the tumor accumulation. Accompanied by the DMN dissolution, the composition of the needle matrixes self-assembled into nanomicelles, which could efficiently penetrate deep tumor tissue. Upon laser irradiation, the nanomicelles could not only ablate tumor cells directly by photothermal conversion but also trigger PTX release to induce tumor cell apoptosis. In vivo results showed that compared with intravenous injection, IR780 delivered by PTX/IR780-NMs @DMNs was almost completely accumulated at the tumor site. The antitumor results revealed that the PTX/IR780-NMs @DMNs could effectively eliminate tumors with an 88% curable rate without any damage to normal tissues. This work provides a versatile and generalizable framework for designing self-assembly DMN-mediated combination therapy to fight against superficial cancer.


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About this article

Self-assembly nanomicelle-microneedle patches with enhanced tumor penetration for superior chemo-photothermal therapy

Show Author's information Ying Sun1,§, Minglong Chen1,4,§, Dan Yang2, Wanbing Qin3, Guilan Quan2( ), Chuanbin Wu2, Xin Pan1 ( )
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Jieyang Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 522091, China
Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China

§ Ying Sun and Minglong Chen contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Nanomedicine with high specificity has been a promising tool for cancer diagnosis and therapy. However, the successful application of nanoparticle-based superficial cancer therapy is severely hindered by restricted deep tumor tissue accumulation and penetration. Herein, a self-assembly nanomicelle dissolving microneedle (DMN) patch according to the “nano in micro” strategy was conducted to co-deliver a first-line chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel (PTX), and a photosensitizer IR780 (PTX/IR780-NMs @DMNs) for chemo-photothermal synergetic melanoma therapy. Upon direct insertion into the tumor site, DMNs created a regular and multipoint three-dimensional drug depot to maximize the tumor accumulation. Accompanied by the DMN dissolution, the composition of the needle matrixes self-assembled into nanomicelles, which could efficiently penetrate deep tumor tissue. Upon laser irradiation, the nanomicelles could not only ablate tumor cells directly by photothermal conversion but also trigger PTX release to induce tumor cell apoptosis. In vivo results showed that compared with intravenous injection, IR780 delivered by PTX/IR780-NMs @DMNs was almost completely accumulated at the tumor site. The antitumor results revealed that the PTX/IR780-NMs @DMNs could effectively eliminate tumors with an 88% curable rate without any damage to normal tissues. This work provides a versatile and generalizable framework for designing self-assembly DMN-mediated combination therapy to fight against superficial cancer.

Keywords: tumor penetration, chemo-photothermal therapy, dissolving microneedle, nanomicelle, superficial tumor

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 28 June 2021
Revised: 10 August 2021
Accepted: 12 August 2021
Published: 25 September 2021
Issue date: March 2022

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81803466), the Key Areas Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province (No. 2019B020204002), and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2021A1515012525).

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