Docetaxel-loaded pH/ROS dual-responsive nanoparticles with self-supplied ROS for inhibiting metastasis and enhancing immunotherapy of breast cancer

BACKGROUND: Although stimuli-responsive nanoplatforms were developed to deliver immunogenic cell death (ICD) inducers to enhance cancer immunotherapy, the complete release of ICD inducers into the tumor microenvironment (TME) was limited by the inadequate supplementation of endogenous stimulus (e.g., reactive oxygen species (ROS)). To address this issue, we synthesized a self-responsive nanomaterial with self-supplied ROS, which mainly consists of a ROS responsive moiety HPAP and cinnamaldehyde (CA) as the ROS-generating agent. The endogenous ROS can accelerate the degradation of HPAP in materials to release docetaxel (DTX, an ICD inducer). In intracellular acidic environment, the pH-sensitive acetal was cleaved to release CA. The released CA in turn induces the generation of more ROS through mitochondrial damage, resulting in amplified DTX release. Using this self-cycling and self-responsive nanomaterial as a carrier, DTX-loaded pH/ROS dual-responsive nanoparticles (DTX/FA-CA-Oxi-αCD NPs) were fabricated and evaluated in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: In vitro experiments validated that the NPs could be effectively internalized by FA-overexpressed cells and completely release DTX in acidic and ROS microenvironments to induce ICD effect. These NPs significantly blocked 4T1 cell migration and decreased cell invasion. In vivo experiments demonstrated that the tumor-targeted NPs significantly inhibited tumor growth and blocked tumor metastasis. More importantly, these NPs significantly improved immunotherapy through triggering effector T-cell activation and relieving the immunosuppressive state of the TME. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that DTX/FA-CA-Oxi-αCD NPs displayed great potential in preventing tumor metastasis, inhibiting tumor growth, and improving the efficacy of anti-PD-1antibody. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-023-02013-y.