Influenza poses a severe threat to global health. Despite the whole inactivated virus (WIV)‐based nasal vaccine being a promising strategy for influenza protection, the mucosal barrier is still a bottleneck of the nasal vaccine. Here, a catalytic mucosal adjuvant strategy for an influenza WIV nasal vaccine based on chitosan (CS) functionalized iron oxide nanozyme (IONzyme) is developed. The results reveal that CS‐IONzyme increases antigen adhesion to nasal mucosa by 30‐fold compared to H1N1 WIV alone. Next, CS‐IONzyme facilitates H1N1 WIV to enhance CCL20‐driven submucosal dendritic cell (DC) recruitment and transepithelial dendrite(TED) formation for viral uptake via the toll‐like receptor(TLR) 2/4‐dependent pathway. Moreover, IONzyme with enhanced peroxidase (POD)‐like activity by CS modification catalyzes a reactive oxygen species (ROS)‐dependent DC maturation, which further enhances the migration of H1N1 WIV‐loaded DCs into the draining lymph nodes for antigen presentation. Finally, CS‐IONzyme‐based nasal vaccine triggers an 8.9‐fold increase of IgA‐mucosal adaptive immunity in mice, which provides a 100% protection against influenza, while only a 30% protection by H1N1 WIV alone. This work provides an antiviral alternative for designing nasal vaccines based on IONzyme to combat influenza infection.

Combining nanozymes and bacteria to eliminate dental biofilms in a mixed-species model.

Inspired by the particularity of tumor microenvironments, including acidity and sensibility to reactive oxygen species (ROS), advanced and smart responsive nanomaterials have recently been developed. The present study synthesized tumor-targeted and pH-sensitive supramolecular micelles that self-assembled via host–guest recognition. The micelles consumed intratumoral glucose and lactate via loading with glucose oxidase (GOD) and lactate oxidase (LOD). Intratumoral glucose and lactate were converted into hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and were sequentially reduced to highly toxic hydroxyl radicals (•OH) via the peroxidase (POD)-like activity of the loaded C-dot nanozymes. Tumor-killing effects were observed via cascade catalytic reactions. After an intravenous injection, the nanocomposite exhibited an excellent tumor-targeted ability with good biocompatibility, which demonstrated its effective antitumor effect. The nanocomposite effectively combined starvation and catalytic therapies and exerted a synergistic anticancer effect with minimal side effects and without external addition.

Kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) are polymers that play a vital role in gas energy production, transport, and storage. A series of polyaspartamides based on L-aspartic acid were designed to serve as potential KHIs. Tuning the fine structures of the polyaspartamides can inhibit the tetrahydrofuran hydrate formation more effectively than classical KHIs, i.e., poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCap) and poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP). When the hydrophobic side chain is longer, the polyaspartamide is more effective. For elucidation of the polymer structure−property relationships in the inhibition of the clathrate hydrate, the molecular-level interactions between the polyaspartamides and tetrahydrofuran hydrate were studied. Dynamics of water surrounding the polymers probed by NMR relaxometry demonstrate that the polyaspartamides can bind tightly with water molecules in the hydrate, resulting in faster transverse relaxation times of the nonfreezable water. This phenomenon can be interpreted by quantum chemical simulations and nonfreezable bound water analysis by calorimetry. The simulations show that the interaction between the polyaspartamides and the clathrate hydrate is featured by the formation of strong hydrogen-bonding, rendering severe distortion and destruction of the clathrate cages. High levels of nonfreezable bound water per polymer repeat unit were found in the amphiphilic polymers. Polyaspartamide could be used as a green resource for prevention of gas hydrate formation in energy production.

Water tightly bound to the kinetic inhibitors of tetrahydrofuran hydrate is related to the hydrophobic hydration effect of the inhibitors.