Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (Oct 2024)

Zinc oxide nanoparticles with catalase-like nanozyme activity and near-infrared light response: A combination of effective photodynamic therapy, autophagy, ferroptosis, and antitumor immunity

  • Jingru Wang,
  • Man Liu,
  • Jingwen Wang,
  • Zhuoyue Li,
  • Zhenhan Feng,
  • Meiqi Xu,
  • Hui Wang,
  • Hui Li,
  • Zhantao Li,
  • Jianming Yu,
  • Junwei Liu,
  • Qingchao Wei,
  • Shuang Zhang,
  • Xuan Zhang

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 10
pp. 4493 – 4508

Abstract

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We prepared biocompatible and environment-friendly zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) with upconversion properties and catalase-like nanozyme activity. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) application is severely limited by the poor penetration of UV–Visible light and a hypoxic tumor environment. Here, we used ZnO NPs as a carrier for the photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6) to construct zinc oxide–chlorin e6 nanoparticles (ZnO-Ce6 NPs), simultaneously addressing both problems. In terms of penetration, ZnO NPs convert 808 nm near-infrared light into 401 nm visible light to excite Ce6, achieving deep-penetrating photodynamic therapy under long-wavelength light. Interestingly, the ability to emit short-wavelength light under long-wavelength light is usually observed in upconversion nanoparticles. As nanozymes, ZnO NPs can catalyze the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in tumors, providing oxygen for photodynamic action and relieving hypoxia. The enhanced photodynamic action produces a large amount of reactive oxygen species, which overactivate autophagy and trigger immunogenic cell death (ICD), leading to antitumor immunotherapy. In addition, even in the absence of light, ZnO and ZnO-Ce6 NPs can induce ferroptosis of tumor cells and exert antitumor effects.

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