Self-Assembling Porphyrins as a Single Therapeutic Agent for Synergistic Cancer Therapy: A One Stone Three Birds Strategy.

Combining photodynamic therapy (PDT), chemodynamic therapy (CDT), and ferroptosis is a valuable means for an enhanced anticancer effect. However, traditional combination of PDT/CDT/ferroptosis faces several hurdles, including excess glutathione (GSH) neutralization and preparation complexity. In this work, a versatile multifunctional nanoparticle (HCNP) self-assembled from two porphyrin molecules, chlorin e6 and hemin, is developed. The as-constructed HCNPs exhibit a peroxidase-mimic catalytic activity, which can lead to the in situ generation of endogenous O2, thereby enhancing the efficacy of PDT. Furthermore, the generation of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) in the tumor environment in reaction to the high level of H2O2 and the simultaneous disruption of intracellular GSH endow the HCNPs with the capacity of enhanced CDT, resulting in a more effective therapeutic outcome in combination with PDT. More importantly, GSH depletion further leads to the inactivation of GSH peroxide 4 and induced ferroptosis. Both in vitro and in vivo results showed that the combination of PDT/CDT/ferroptosis realizes highest antitumor efficacy significantly under laser irradiation. Therefore, by integrating the superiorities of O2 and •OH generation capacity, GSH-depletion effect, and bioimaging into a single nanosystem, the HCNPs are a promising single therapeutic agent for tumor PDT/CDT/ferroptosis combination therapy.

Functionalized Ag/Fe-MOFs nanocomposite as a novel endogenous redox mediator for determination of α2,6-sialylated glycans in serum.

The development of a novel signal amplification system is described for sensitive determination of α2,6-sialylated glycans (α2,6-sial-Gs), an important prognostic tumor biomarker. First, Fe-based metal-organic frameworks (Fe-MOFs) with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) decorated onto the outer surface were designed and synthesized with controlled octahedron structures. The new Ag/Fe-MOFs nanocomposite possessed strong conductivity and a large surface area to carry more nanoprobes. To connect the Ag/Fe-MOFs nanocomposite with more groups, the nanocomposite was functionalized by -COOH with SH-PEG-COOH to bind with an α2,6-sial-Gs catcher, M-APBA, via -CONH- bonds. More importantly, the Ag/Fe-MOFs also exhibited an excellent endogenous redox mediator property to produce electrons, which is the fundamental mechanism underlying amplification of an electronic signal. A gold electrode was used to accelerate electron transfer and immobilize the α2,6-sial-Gs lectin (SNA). After the sandwich-type catcher recognition (SNA/α2,6-sial-Gs/M-APBA), the current peak response was provoked in the process of oxidizing AgNPs to Ag+ in the forward anodic potential sweep, while Cl- in a PBS solution was transferred into Ag+ to maintain charge neutrality. Optimized particles were employed for direct fabrication of the sandwich-type affinity biosensor, which was found to show a linear detection range from 1 fg mL-1 to 1 ng mL-1 with a detection limit of 0.09 fg mL-1. Furthermore, the biosensor exhibited excellent specificity and stability, indicating that such a novel nanobiotechnology platform can be used to initiate potential utility for monitoring biomarkers in serum. (A)Schematic presentation of synthesis and surface modification of Ag/Fe-MOFs. The new Ag/Fe-MOFs nanocomposite possessed commendable conductivity and large surface area to carry more nanoprobe; after functionalizing the Ag/MOFs with SH-PEG-COOH, the functionalized endogenous redox mediator (c-Ag/MOFs) realized the possibility that can connect with the biological catcher. (B) Schematic diagram of electrode construction for detecting α2,6-sialylated glycans (α2,6-sial-Gs). By using the c-Ag/Fe-MOFs functional endogenous redox mediator, we successfully implemented the electrochemical detection of α2,6-sial-Gs.

Maternal exposure to CeO2NPs during early pregnancy impairs pregnancy by inducing placental abnormalities.

Cerium dioxide nanoparticles (CeO2NPs) has been widely used in many fields, and also recommended as a promising carrier for cancer targeted drugs in human medicine for its excellent properties. However, its biological safety to human health remains controversial. In this study, we propose a mouse model exposed to CeO2NPs during early pregnancy, to clarify the effect of maternal CeO2NPs exposure and related molecular mechanism. Pregnant mice are injected intravenously with CeO2NPs by once a day on D5, D6, and D7. The effects of CeO2NPs exposure on pregnancy outcomes are observed on D8, D9, D10 and D12. The results show that CeO2NPs exposure during early pregnancy would lead to poor pregnancy outcomes. Further study find that low-quality decidualization, including the imbalance of trophoblast invasion regulators secreted by decidual cells and abnormal recruitment and differentiation of uNK cells, leads to subsequent biological negative "ripple effects", including placental dysfunction, fetal loss or growth restriction. This study broadens the understanding of the biological safety of CeO2NPs, and provide clues for the prevention of its negative biological effects. Improving the function of uNK cells can be used as one of the therapeutic targets to prevent negative effects of CeO2NPs on pregnancy.