Internal medicine

Receptor

Immunotherapy

Immunogenic cell death

Biology

Germination

Cancer

Immunology

T cell

Chemotherapy

Blockade

Doxorubicin

Chemoimmunotherapy

Immune checkpoint

Botany

Cancer research

Medicine

Priming (agriculture)

Immune system

Pharmacology

Science Advances

Although immune checkpoint blockade has shown initial success for various cancers, only a small subset of patients benefits from this therapy. Some chemotherapeutic drugs have been reported to induce antitumor T cell responses, prompting a number of clinical trials on combination chemoimmunotherapy. However, how to achieve potent immune activation with traditional chemotherapeutics in a manner that is safe, effective, and compatible with immunotherapy remains unclear. We show that high-density lipoprotein-mimicking nanodiscs loaded with doxorubicin (DOX), a widely used chemotherapeutic agent, can potentiate immune checkpoint blockade in murine tumor models. Delivery of DOX via nanodiscs triggered immunogenic cell death of cancer cells and exerted antitumor efficacy without any overt off-target side effects. "Priming" tumors with DOX-carrying nanodiscs elicited robust antitumor CD8

Elimination of established tumors with nanodisc-based combination chemoimmunotherapy