Fig. 4

The potential of hydrogels in accelerating phototherapy and immunotherapy. The exposure of primary tumor cells to NIR irradiation can cause photothermal and photodynamic therapy (1), resulting in the release of antigens from tumor cells (2). Then, the dendritic cells are stimulated (3) and they are matured (4) to induce CD⁸⁺ and CD⁴⁺ T cells, (5) impairing progression of primary tumor (6) and reducing tumorigenesis of metastatic tumor (7). Moreover, phototherapy can stimulate DNA damage to mediate cell death in disrupting progression of cancer cells (8). (Created with Biorender.com)