Evading Doxorubicin-Induced Systemic Immunosuppression Using Ultrasound-Responsive Liposomes Combined with Focused Ultrasound

Abstract

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a representative anticancer drug with a unique ability to induce immunogenic cell death of cancer cells. However, undesired toxicity on immune cells has remained a significant challenge, hindering the usage of DOX in cancer immunotherapy. Here, we report a combined therapy to avoid the off-target toxicity of DOX by adapting ultrasound-responsive liposomal doxorubicin and focused ultrasound exposure. Histological analysis demonstrated that the combined therapy induced less hemosiderosis of splenocytes and improved tumor infiltration of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Additionally, in vivo therapeutic evaluation results indicate that the combined therapy achieved higher efficacy when combined with PD-1 immune-checkpoint blockade therapy by improving immunogenicity.

Keywords

• doxorubicin
• immunogenic cell death
• cancer immunotherapy
• immune checkpoint blockade