Fig. 7

A Schematic illustration depicting that the artificially reprogrammed HION@Macs target tumors through active chemotaxis and magnet guidance, produce inflammatory factors (such as TNF-α, NO and ROS) to suppress tumor, re-educate in situ M2 macrophages into pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype for synergistic cancer-specific therapy. B-E In vivo tumor targeting and anticancer effect of HION@Macs in BALB/c mice bearing subcutaneously inoculated 4 T1 breast tumor. B Representing IVIS images depicting bio distribution of Møs, M1 Møs, ION@Macs, HION@Macs, HION@Macs plus magnet guidance. The tumor site was designated by white dotted circle. C Tumor growth profiles recorded during 21 days. Tumor bearing BALB/c mice received a total of three injections on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th day (designated by red arrow) since tumor volume reached ≈80 mm3. The asterisks indicate the difference between the HION@Macs + magnet group, the HION@Macs group, and the PBS group. **: p < 0.01; ***: p < 0.001. D Relative body weight of mice from different groups after treatments. E Representative image of tumor tissues harvested from different groups on the 21st day. Group a) HION@Macs + magnet; b) HION@Macs; c) ION@Macs; d) Mø; e) HION; f) PBS (Scale bar: 1 cm). Error bars represent mean ± S.D. (n = 6) [153]