Biomimetic oxygen delivery nanoparticles for enhancing photodynamic therapy in triple-negative breast cancer

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a kind of aggressive breast cancer with a high rate of metastasis, poor overall survival time, and a low response to targeted therapies. To improve the therapeutic efficacy and overcome the drug resistance of TNBC treatments, here we developed the cancer cell membrane-coated oxygen delivery nanoprobe, CCm–HSA–ICG–PFTBA, which can improve the hypoxia at tumor sites and enhance the therapeutic efficacy of the photodynamic therapy (PDT), resulting in relieving the tumor growth in TNBC xenografts. Results: The size of the CCm–HSA–ICG–PFTBA was 131.3 ± 1.08 nm. The in vitro O and ROS concentrations of the CCm–HSA–ICG–PFTBA group were both significantly higher than those of the other groups (P < 0.001). In vivo fluorescence imaging revealed that the best time window was at 24 h post-injection of the CCm–HSA–ICG–PFTBA. Both in vivo F-FMISO PET imaging and ex vivo immunofluorescence staining results exhibited that the tumor hypoxia was significantly improved at 24 h post-injection of the CCm–HSA–ICG–PFTBA. For in vivo PDT treatment, the tumor volume and weight of the CCm–HSA–ICG–PFTBA with NIR group were both the smallest among all the groups and significantly decreased compared to the untreated group (P < 0.01). No obvious biotoxicity was observed by the injection of CCm–HSA–ICG–PFTBA till 14 days. Conclusions: By using the high oxygen solubility of perfluorocarbon (PFC) and the homologous targeting ability of cancer cell membranes, CCm–HSA–ICG–PFTBA can target tumor tissues, mitigate the hypoxia of the tumor microenvironment, and enhance the PDT efficacy in TNBC xenografts. Furthermore, the HSA, ICG, and PFC are all FDA-approved materials, which render the nanoparticles highly biocompatible and enhance the potential for clinical translation in the treatment of TNBC patients. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].