Herbal polysaccharide-based carrier enhances immunogenic cell death in cancer chemotherapy

Breast cancer is a significant global health burden, with growth and metastasis contributing to its high mortality rate, highlighting the need for innovative treatment strategies. This study aims to develop breast cancer-targeted nanoparticles loaded with Doxorubicin (Dox) to combat both primary tumors and metastasis. By utilizing Dendrobium officinale polysaccharide (DOP), an herb polysaccharide with immunomodulatory activity, as a carrier, and incorporating folic acid (FA) as an active targeting ligand, we've achieved advancements in chemoimmunotherapy. After delivery of resulting FA@Dox nanoparticles to solid tumors by passive and active targeting, the tumor cells were killed by released Dox, and the immunogenic cell death was enhanced by the DOP, which promotes the proliferation of natural killer (NK) cells, facilitates dendritic cell maturation, and synergistically modulates various immune cells, preventing lung metastasis. The comprehensive assessments included material characterizations, in vitro and in vivo efficacy evaluations, biosafety analysis, and immune response studies. Given that DOP is derived from the medicinal and edible Dendrobium officinale, the developed DOP-based carrier holds great promise as an advanced nanomedicine platform. This offers promising prospects for synergistic modulation of multiple immune cells, particularly through NK cell proliferation, amplifying the efficacy of chemoimmunotherapy across diverse tumor types.