Figure 9.

Schematic Illustration of the acid-activatable micelleplexes for PD-L1 blockade-enhanced photodynamic cancer immunotherapy (a) Chemical structure of the acid-activatable POP micelleplexes that were co-loaded with PPa and siRNA; the micelleplexes dissociated at an acidic microenvironment that were attributed to the protonation of the of PDPA. (b) Schematic of POP-PD-L1 micelleplex mediated combined cancer immunotherapy. Upon PDT, the POP-PD-L1 micelleplexes generated ROS, which ultimately induced an adaptive immune response by provoking HSP70 and NF-κB pathways, triggered the secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokine, and recruited tumor-infiltrating T cells. The antitumor immune response was further improved by RNAi of PD-L1. Adapted with permission from ¹³⁵, 2016 American Chemical Society.