Concurrent inhibition of tumor growth and metastasis by a lipidated nanophotosensitizer tracing and disabling tumor extracellular vesicles

Abstract

Cancer cells promote tumor growth and metastasis through tumor extracellular vesicle (TEV)-mediated intercellular and intertissue communication. Inhibiting TEVs represents a promising strategy to suppress metastasis; however, effectively and selectively disabling TEVs remains challenging. Herein, we developed palmitic acid surface-displayed nanoparticles using an adjacent hydrophilic molecular engineering strategy. Unexpectedly, these lipidated nanoparticles were not only efficiently taken up and distributed within tumor cells but also coupled with TEV generation, enabling active tracing of TEVs. Exploiting their dual tumor spatial distribution (intracellular and intra-TEV), a lipidated nanophotosensitizer was constructed for metastasis therapy. Under near-infrared light irradiation at the primary tumor site, both intracellular and intra-TEV reactive oxygen species were generated synchronously. This led to photodynamic suppression of the primary tumor and blocked intercellular and intertissue communication by disabling TEVs, effectively inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis in multiple tumor models in female mice. Overall, this work reports a therapeutic paradigm for concurrently inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis.