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Nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy has been widely studied for cancer treatment. It is important to disclose how photothermally ablated tumor cells trigger immune responses. In this study, bovine serum albumin (BSA)-coated gold nanorods (BSA-coated AuNRs) were prepared and used for photothermal ablation of breast tumor cells. The BSA-coated AuNRs showed high photothermal conversion efficiency and good photothermal ablation effect towards tumor cells. The ablated tumor cells were co-cultured with immature dendritic cells (DCs) through a direct cell contacting model and diffusion model to confirm the stimulatory effects of cell–cell interaction and soluble factors released from ablated tumor cells. The results indicated that photothermally ablated tumor cells induced immune-stimulatory responses of DCs through both cell–cell interaction and soluble factors. The results should be useful for synergistic photothermal-immunotherapy of primary and metastatic cancer.