Researchers Design Nanoparticles That Fight Cancer Two Ways at Once
Scientists have created biodegradable nanoparticles that combine light-activated therapy with gas-based treatment, addressing a major limitation of current cancer drugs: they don't work well enough in solid tumors. The advance could accelerate development of hybrid therapies that are safer and more effective than existing options.
Originaltitel: Biodegradable Ruthenium-Rhenium Complexes Containing Nanoamplifiers: Triggering ROS-Induced CO Release for Synergistic Cancer Treatment
<p>The constrained effectiveness of photodynamic therapy (PDT) has impeded its widespread use in clinical practice. Urgent efforts are needed to address the shortcomings faced in photodynamic therapy, such as photosensitizer toxicity, short half-life, and limited action range of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, a biodegradable copolymer nanoamplifier is reported that contains ruthenium complex (Ru-complex) as photosensitizer (PS) and rhenium complex (Re-complex) as carbon monoxide (CO)-release molecule (CORM). The well-designed nanoamplifier brings PS and CORM into close spatial proximity, significantly promotes the utilization of light-stimulated reactive oxygen species (ROS), and cascaded amplifying CO release, thus enabling an enhanced synergistic effect of PDT and gas therapy for cancer treatment. Moreover, owing to its intrinsic photodegradable nature, the nanoamplifier exhibits good tumor accumulation and penetration ability, and excellent biocompatibility in vivo. These findings suggest that the biodegradable cascaded nanoamplifiers pave the way for a synergistic and clinically viable integration of photodynamic and gas therapy. This study introduces a biodegradable copolymer nanoamplifier containing ruthenium (Ru) complexes and rhenium (Re) complexes to generate ROS and cascade-amplified carbon monoxide (CO) release under illumination. The significance of the proximity of Ru and Re-complexes is observed both extracellularly and intracellularly. Owing to its inherent photodegradable nature, the nanoamplifier exhibits outstanding biocompatibility, and effective accumulation and penetration into tumor, facilitating synergistic therapy. image</p>