Degradable Carbon-Silica Nanocomposite with Immunoadjuvant Property for Dual-Modality Photothermal/Photodynamic Therapy.

Carbon nanomaterial-based cancer therapy has flourished for decades. However, their practical applications on clinical bases still pose a challenge to address the dilemma of metabolism in vivo. In this study, an attempt is made to design a degradable carbon-silica nanocomposite (CSN) with immunoadjuvant property, which could undergo an enzyme-free degradation process into small particles (~5 nm) and facilitate its clinical application. CSN harbors photothermal and photodynamic properties, and meanwhile as an immunoadjuvant, would help to generate the tumor-associated antigens and mature dendritic cells (DCs). Potent antitumor effects have been achieved in both 4T1 and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumor models with tumor inhibition efficiencies of 93.2% and 92.5%, respectively. We believe that this strategy will benefit to the possible clinical translation and carbon-silica nanomaterial-based cancer therapy.