Endogenous/Exogenous Nanovaccines Synergistically Enhance Dendritic Cell-mediated Tumor Immunotherapy

Abstract

Abstract Traditional dendritic cell (DC)-mediated immunotherapy is usually suppressed by weak immunogenicity in tumors and generally leads to unsatisfactory outcomes. Synergistic exogenous/endogenous immunogenic activation can provide an alternative strategy for evoking a robust immune response by promoting DC activation. Herein, we prepared Ti3C2 MXene-based nanoplatforms (termed MXP) with high-efficiency near-infrared photothermal conversion and immunocompetent loading capacity to form endogenous/exogenous nanovaccines. Specifically, the immunogenic cell death of tumor cells induced by the photothermal effects of the MXP can generate endogenous danger signals and antigen release to boost vaccination for DC maturation and antigen cross-presentation. In addition, MXP can deliver ovalbumin tumor antigens (OVA) and agonists (CpG-ODN) as an exogenous nanovaccine (MXP@OC), which further enhanced efficient DC activation. Importantly, the synergistic strategy of photothermal therapy and DC-mediated immunotherapy by MXP significantly eradicated tumors and enhanced adaptive immunity. Hence, the present work provides a two-pronged strategy for improving immunogenicity and killing tumor cells to achieve a favorable outcome in tumor patients.