Advanced Oxidation Nanoprocessing Boosts Immunogenicity of Whole Tumor Cells

Whole tumor cells expressing a wide array of tumor antigens are considered as a highly promising source of antigens for cancer vaccines. However, simultaneously preserving the antigen diversity, improving immunogenicity, and eliminating the potential tumorigenic risk of whole tumor cells are highly challenging. Inspired by the recent progress in sulfate radical-based environmental technology, herein, an advanced oxidation nanoprocessing (AONP) strategy is developed for boosting the immunogenicity of whole tumor cells. The AONP is based on the activation of peroxymonosulfate by ZIF-67 nanocatalysts to produce SO4-∙ radicals continuously, leading to sustained oxidative damage to tumor cells and consequently extensive cell death. Importantly, AONP causes immunogenic apoptosis as evidenced by the release of a series of characteristic damage associated molecular patterns and at the same time maintains the integrity of cancer cells, which is critical to preserve the cellular components and thus maximize the diversity of antigens. Finally, the immunogenicity of AONP-treated whole tumor cells is evaluated in a prophylactic vaccination model, demonstrating significantly delayed tumor growth and increased survival rate of live tumor-cell-challenged mice. It is expected that the developed AONP strategy would pave the way to develop effective personalized whole tumor cell vaccines in future.