Drug-Free Approach to Regulate Undruggable Proto-Oncogene MYC Using Biomimetic Porous Nanoparticles for Cancer Immunotherapy

A proto-oncogene MYC plays a crucial role in controlling immune response, but as of today, it is undruggable. Some MYC inhibitors are under testing; nevertheless, they have low efficacy and severe toxicity. Up to now, the use of a drug-free approach to regulate MYC has been rarely investigated. The present study aims to identify the potential of drug-free photothermal therapy (PTT) in regulating MYC. Herein, biomimetic black porous silicon (BPSi) nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared via a novel self-templated Na–K alloy reduction method and then coated with a cancer cell membrane and polyethylene glycol. These NPs have efficient photothermal conversion, good biocompatibility, and homotypic tumor targeting. The results indicated that BPSi-based PTT could efficiently regulate MYC by tuning temperatures. However, only PTT at 50 °C could successfully inhibit MYC, while PTT at 46 °C upregulated MYC. Mechanism studies revealed that MYC inhibition was achieved via the downregulation of ‘MYC Targets V1’, and MAPK and JAK-STAT signaling pathways were involved. Finally, tumor-targeted PTT activated robust cancer immunotherapy by MYC inhibition and efficiently prevented tumor growth without significant toxicity in vivo. The present study highlights the potential of a drug-free approach to regulate MYC for more potent cancer immunotherapy.