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Photothermal therapy (PTT) has received a lot of attention as a promising strategy for eliminating tumors quickly. However, the unavoidable inflammatory response during the treatment might result in a high concentration of M2-like tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), increasing the risk of tumor recurrence and metastasis. To address this problem, gold-based nanocarriers (PGMP-small interfering RNA (siRNA) nanoparticles (NPs)) containing STAT6siRNA, that inhibited M2-like TAM polarization, were designed and investigated for PTT and gene therapy of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In an NSCLC model, the nanocarriers demonstrated excellent siRNA delivery ability and a high gene transfection rate of up to 90% in macrophages, thus inhibiting the polarization of about 87% of M2-like TAMs and effectively suppressing the invasion and metastasis of NSCLC. Meanwhile, the unique gold nanosphere structure offered improved PTT and contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging, thus contributing to the efficient elimination and real-time monitoring of the tumor tissues. These nanocarriers with combined gene and photothermal therapeutic capabilities improved the efficacy of single-modality treatment, and showed the potential to inhibit cancer cell recurrence and metastasis to ultimately cure NSCLC.

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 06 May 2022
Revised: 12 July 2022
Accepted: 12 July 2022
Published: 30 August 2022
Issue date: January 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81873898, 81960316, 81871411, 32011530115, and 32025021), the Science & Technology Bureau of Ningbo City (Nos. 2020Z094 and 2021Z072), the Excellent Member of Youth Innovation Promotion Association Foundation of CAS (No. Y2021079), and the Ningbo 3315 Innovative Teams Program, China (No. 2019A-14-C). The animal study protocol was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Lanzhou University Second Hospital.

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