Comprehensive Mechanism Analysis of Mesoporous-Silica-Nanoparticle-Induced Cancer Immunotherapy

A plain mesoporous silica nanoparticle without any immunomodulatory molecules significantly enhances anticancer immunity in vivo. Comprehensive mechanism of mesoporous-silica-nanoparticle-induced cancer immunotherapy is analyzed in this paper. The mesoporous silica nanoparticle promotes both Th1 and Th2 immune responses, as it accelerates lymphocytes proliferation, stimulates IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-10 cytokine secretion by lymphocytes ex vivo, and increases IgG, IgG1, IgG2a, IgM, and IgA antibody titers in mice serum compared with those of alum and adjuvant-free groups. Moreover, the mesoporous silica nanoparticle enhances effector memory CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell populations in three most important immune organs (bone marrow, lymph node, and spleen) of mice compared with those of alum and adjuvant-free groups three months after adjuvant injection. The present study paves the way for the application of mesoporous silica nanoparticle as immunoadjuvant for cancer immunotherapy.