A Facile Approach To Develop Ion Pair Micelles Satellited Freshly Derived Neutrophils For Targeted Tumor Therapy

This study presents a neutrophils (NUs)-based nanocarrier system with surface-anchored dialdehyde alginate-coated micelles (dA(MI@IPM)s) loaded with chemotherapeutic drug (mitoxantrone) and photosensitizer (indocyanine green). Utilizing NUs' tumor-homing ability, the system enhances tumor-specific accumulation and releases drugs upon NIR irradiation, achieving effective tumor inhibition. The method is rapid, responsive to stimuli, and suitable for effective cancer treatment.

Abstract

Immune cells show enormous potential for targeted nanoparticle delivery due to their intrinsic tumor-homing skills. However, the immune cells can internalize the nanoparticles, leading to cellular functional impairments, degradation of the nanoparticles, and delayed release of drugs from the immune cells. To address these issues, this study introduces an approach for the synthesis of freshly derived neutrophils (NUs)-based nanocarriers system where the NUs are surfaced by dialdehyde alginate-coated self-assembled micelles loaded with mitoxantrone (MIT) and indocyanine green (ICG) (i.e., dA(MI@IPM)s) for stimuli-responsive tumor-targeted therapy. Here, the dA(MI@IPM)s are not internalized by the NUs, but they are anchored on the membrane of the NUs via distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine-polyethylene glycol-polyethylenimine anchors. Owing to the natural recruitment ability of NUs to the tumor microenvironment, NUs-anchored dA(MI@IPM)s accumulation is higher at the tumor site than free dA(MI@IPM)s, where the dA(MI@IPM)s can readily detach from the NUs to get internalized in the tumor cells. The stimuli-responsive dA(MI@IPM)s disassembles inside the cancer cells upon near-infrared irradiation due to the photosensitizing effect of the loaded ICG, releasing MIT and significantly inhibiting tumor growth. This approach is simple and fast to prepare, opening up exciting possibilities for personalized cancer treatment using patient's autologous NUs.