This feature article highlights various nanoenzymes and their bio-applications in disease diagnosis and therapy. Current challenges and future trends of nanoenzymes are also discussed.
Developing spherical nucleic acids with new structures holds great promise for nanomedicine and bioanalytical fields. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are emerging promising materials with unique properties for a wide range of applications. However, devising COF-based spherical nucleic acid is challenging because methods for the preparation of functionalized COFs are still limited. We report here a bonding defect-amplified modification (BDAM) strategy for the facile preparation of functionalized COFs. Poly(acrylic acid) was employed as the defect amplifier to modify the surface of COF nanoparticles by the formation of amide bonds with amino residues, which successfully converted and amplified the residues into abundant reactive carboxyl groups. Then, amino terminal-decorated hairpin DNA was densely grafted onto the surface of COF nanoparticles (NPs) to give rise to a spherical nucleic acid probe (SNAP). A series of experiments and characterizations proved the successful preparation of the COF-based SNAP, and its application in specifically lighting up RNA biomarkers in living cells for cancer diagnostic imaging was demonstrated. Therefore, the COF-based SNAP is a promising candidate for biomedical applications and the proposed BDAM represents a useful strategy for the preparation of functionalized COFs for diverse fields.
As
the most popular nucleic acid probe, molecular beacons (MBs)
can selectively light up endogenous RNA targets without specific treatment.
However, the poor cell permeability and unsatisfied intracellular
stability of MBs significantly restricted their detection performance.
Herein, we report the encapsulation of MB within a dual-layered metal–organic
framework nanostructure UiO66-ZIF8 for enhanced cell imaging. UiO66-NH2 nanoparticles were synthesized as the template for MB loading,
and the ZIF-8 shell was further coated on the surface of UiO66-MB
to ensure its stability and lysosomal escape effect. Taking multidrug-resistant
(MDR1) mRNA as a model target, MBs loaded within UiO66-ZIF8 showed
an improved lysosomal escape effect compared with MB absorbed on UiO66-NH2. Therefore, efficient and accurate intracellular MDR1 mRNA
imaging was realized with UiO66-MB-ZIF8. This work presented a new
method for the rational regulation of the intracellular fate of MOF-based
nanoprobes and will facilitate the further development of hierarchical
MOF nanoprobes for analytical applications.
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