Immunotherapeutic silk inverse opal particles for post-surgical tumor treatment

Recurrence of malignant tumor after surgical resection is the main reason of cancer treatment failure. Here, a novel kind of silk inverse opal particles (SIOPs) for post-surgical tumor treatment is presented, and it is derived from colloid crystal bead templates by negatively replicating. Because of their abundant uniform nanopores, interconnected nanochannels and excellent biocompatibility, SIOPs could not only carry great amount of anti-tumor drugs for tumor therapy, but also could provide support for cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation as the 3D spherical scaffolds which is beneficial to the tissue repair at resection sites. It is demonstrated that the antibody drugs could maintain their high biological activity without any influences during the preparation of SIOPs and these particles were able to enhance the therapeutic efficacy and promote tissue regeneration after surgical resection with their multifunctional features. These prominent properties indicate the great potentials of SIOPs as a promising strategy for efficient postoperative cancer therapy.