Chemodynamic therapy represents a distinct anti-tumor strategy by activating intratumoral chemical catalytic reactions to produce highly toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) from non-/limited-toxic nanocatalysts . However, the low efficacy of ROS generation still remains a major challenge for further clinical translation. Herein, a liposomal nanosystem which simultaneously encapsulated copper peroxide nanodots (CPNs) and artemisinin (ART) was constructed for autophagy-enhanced and ferroptosis-involved cancer cell death owing to Cu-based dual catalytic strategy. To be specific, the CPN components, served as a H 2 O 2 self-supplying platform, release H 2 O 2 and Cu 2+ under acidic tumor environment and endogenously generate . OH via Fenton-like reaction (catalytic reaction I). In addition, Cu 2+ species catalyze ART components to produce ROS radicals (catalytic reaction II), further augmenting the intracellular oxidative damage and lipid peroxide accumulation, leading to cancer cell death. Specifically, ART also acted as a potent autophagy inducer increasing the level of intracellular iron pool through degradation of ferritin , which could promote cancer cell ferroptosis , producing the best antineoplastic effect. After accumulation into the tumor sites, ultrasound irradiation was applied to trigger the release of CPNs and ART from liposomal nanosystems, and amplify the efficacy of catalytic reaction for maximum therapeutic effect. Both in vitro and in vivo therapeutic outcomes suggest the outstanding autophagy-augmented ferroptosis-involved cancer-therapeutic efficacy, which was further corroborated by transcriptome sequencing. In this work, Cu was firstly proven to trigger ART to produce ROS species, but also provide a TME-responsive nanoplatform for potentially suppressing tumor growth by autophagy-augmented ferroptosis-involved cancer nanotherapy.
Cerenkov radiation induced photodynamic therapy (CR-PDT) can tackle the tissue penetration limitation of traditional PDT. However, co-delivery of radionuclides and photosensitizer may cause continuous phototoxicity in normal tissues during the circulation. 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) which can intracellularly transform into photosensitive protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) is a cancer-selective photosensitizer with negligible side effect. However, the hydrophilic nature of ALA and the further conversion of PpIX to photoinactive Heme severely hinder the therapeutic benefits of ALA-based PDT. Herein, we developed an 89 Zr-labeled, pH responsive ALA and artemisinin (ART) co-loaded liposome ( 89 Zr-ALA-Liposome-ART) for highly selective cancer therapy. 89 Zr can serve as the internal excitation source to self-activate PpIX for CR-PDT, and the photoinactive Heme can activate the chemotherapeutic effect of ART. The 89 Zr-ALA-Liposome-ART exhibited excellent tumor inhibition capability in subcutaneous 4T1-tumor-bearing Balb/c mice via CR-PDT and chemotherapy. Combined with anti-PD-L1, the 89 Zr-ALA-Liposome-ART elicited strong antitumor immunity to against tumor recurrence.