Wirelessly Activated Nanotherapeutics for In Vivo Programmable Photodynamic‐Chemotherapy of Orthotopic Bladder Cancer

• DOI: 10.1002/advs.202200731
• Publication Date: 2022-04-08T05:25:08Z
• Authors: Bowen Sun; Juwita Norasmara ...; Han Joon Kim; Ratha Mahendran; Kesavan Esuvarana...; Edmund Chiong; John S. Ho; Koon Gee Neoh; Yong Zhang
• Keywords: Photosensitizing Agents; Science; Q; 610; 540; targeted drug delivery; 3. Good health; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; photodynamic therapy; wireless photonics; Photochemotherapy; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms; Cell Line, Tumor; bladder cancer; Animals; Research Articles

AbstractPhotochemical internalization (PCI) is a promising intervention using photodynamic therapy (PDT) to enhance the activity of chemotherapeutic drugs. However, current bladder cancer treatments involve high‐dose chemotherapy and high‐irradiance PDT which cause debilitating side effects. Moreover, low penetration of light and drugs in target tissues and cumbersome light delivery procedures hinder the clinical utility of PDT and chemotherapy combination for PCI. To circumvent these challenges, a photodynamic‐chemotherapy approach is developed comprising tumor‐targeting glycosylated nanocarriers, coloaded with chlorin e6 (Ce6) and gemcitabine elaidate (GemE), and a miniaturized implantable wirelessly powered light‐emitting diode (LED) as a light source. The device successfully delivers four weekly light doses to the bladder while the nanocarrier promoted the specific accumulation of drugs in tumors. This approach facilitates the combination of low‐irradiance PDT (1 mW cm−2) and low‐dose chemotherapy (≈1500× lower than clinical dose) which significantly cures and controls orthotopic disease burden (90% treated vs control, 35%) in mice, demonstrating a potential new bladder cancer treatment option.