Engineering H₂O₂ Self-Supplying Platform for Xdynamic Therapies via Ru–Cu Peroxide Nanocarrier: Tumor Microenvironment-Mediated Synergistic Therapy

Abstract

Of the most common, hypoxia, overexpressed glutathione (GSH), and insufficient H 2 O 2 concentration in the tumor microenvironment (TME) are the main barriers to the advancment of reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediated Xdynamic therapies (X = photo, chemodynamic, chemo). Maximizing Fenton catalytic efficiency is crucial in chemodynamic therapy (CDT), yet endogenous H 2 O 2 levels are not sufficient to attain better anticancer efficacy. Specifically, there is a need to amplify Fenton reactivity within tumors, leveraging the unique attributes of the TME. Herein, for the first time, we design Ru x Cu 1−x O 2 −Ce6/CPT (RCpCCPT) anticancer nanoagent for TME-mediated synergistic therapy based on heterogeneous Ru−Cu peroxide nanodots (Ru x Cu 1−x O 2 NDs) and chlorine e6 (Ce6), loaded with ROS-responsive thioketal (TK) linked-camptothecin (CPT). The Ru−Cu peroxide NDs (RCp NDs, x = 0.50) possess the highest oxygen vacancy (O V ) density, which grants them the potential to form massive Lewis's acid sites for peroxide adsorption, while the dispersibility and targetability of the NDs were improved via surface modification using hyaluronic acid (HA). In TME, RCpCCPT degrades, releasing H 2 O 2 , Ru 2+/3+ , and Cu +/2+ ions, which cooperatively facilitate hydroxyl radical (•OH) formation and deactivate antioxidant GSH enzymes through a cocatalytic loop, resulting in excellent tumor therapeutic efficacy. Furthermore, when combined with laser treatment, RCpCCPT produces singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) for PDT, which induces cell apoptosis at tumor sites. Following ROS generation, the TK linkage is disrupted, releasing up to 92% of the CPT within 48 h. In vitro investigations showed that laser-treated RCpCCPT caused 81.5% cell death from PDT/CDT and chemotherapy (CT). RCpCCPT in cancer cells produces red-blue emission in images of cells taking them in, which allows for fluorescence image-guided Xdynamic treatment. The overall results show that RCp NDs and RCpCCPT are more biocompatible and have excellent Xdynamic therapeutic effectiveness in vitro and in vivo.