Introduction: The effect of traditional treatment for melanoma is quite limited, especially for its recurrence. As the major components of yeast cell wall, chitin and β-glucan exhibit good immune activation effect and are promising candidates for adjuvant. Therefore, melanoma cell membrane (CM) and indocyanine green (ICG) was loaded in a chitin and β-glucan hybrid hydrogel to achieve an enhanced anti-melanoma therapy.
Methods: The novel hybrid hydrogel was prepared, and its physicochemical properties were examined. Its effect towards melanoma prevention and treatment was evaluated via a melanoma-bearing mice model.
Results: The CM-ICG-hybrid hydrogel was successfully prepared with excellent injectability, self-healing, drug loading, rheological, in vitro and in vivo photothermal stability, and retention properties. It also exhibited good cellular and in vivo safety profiles. In the primary melanoma mice model, it quickly ablated the in-situ melanoma, effectively inhibited the tumor growth, increased the survival rate of melanoma-bearing mice, and increased the level of IFN-γ and TNF-α. In the distal secondary melanoma model, it efficiently prevented the reoccurrence of melanoma and activated the memory T cells. In both models, a synergistic effect of photothermal therapy and immune therapy was found. The hydrogel effectively recruited CD3⁺ CD4⁺ T cells and CD3⁺ CD8⁺ T cells, inhibited the proliferation of melanoma cells, and induced the apoptosis of melanoma cells.
Conclusion: The hybrid hydrogel was successfully prepared, and it showed excellent efficacy towards melanoma prevention and treatment due to its efficient tumor ablation and immune activation capability.
Keywords: chitin, β-glucan, hybrid hydrogel, melanoma cell membrane, photo thermotherapy, immunotherapy