MOFs-Derived Fe–N Codoped Carbon Nanoparticles as O₂-Evolving Reactor and ROS Generator for CDT/PDT/PTT Synergistic Treatment of Tumors

Abstract

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) derivatives had been widely explored in electronic and environmental fields, but rarely evaluated in the biomedical applications. Herein, Fe–N codoped carbon (FeNC) nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized via facile pyrolysis of precursor ZIF-8 (Fe/Zn) nanoparticles, and their potential applications in tumor therapy were assessed in this investigation both in vitro and in vivo. After PAA (sodium polyacrylate) modification, the FeNC@PAA nanoparticles were able to initiate a Fe-based Fenton-like reaction to generate ·OH and O2 for chemodynamic therapy (CDT) and O2 evolution. Meanwhile, the porphyrin-like metal center in the FeNC@PAA nanoparticles could be used as a photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy (PDT) of tumors, which could be enhanced by O2 generated in CDT. Furthermore, the FeNC@PAA nanoparticles were also found to be effective in photothermal therapy (PTT) with a photothermal conversion efficiency of 29.15%, owing to a high absorbance in the near-infrared region (NIR). In conclusion, the synthesized FeNC@PAA nanoparticles exhibited promising applications in O2 evolution and CDT/PDT/PTT synergistic treatment of tumors.

Reductant‐Free Synthesis of MnO2 Nanosheet‐Decorated Hybrid Nanoplatform for Magnetic Resonance Imaging‐Monitored Tumor Microenvironment‐Responsive Chemodynamic Therapy and Near‐Infrared‐Mediated Photodynamic Therapy

“…Recently, the CDT/PDT combination therapy has been widely used in tumor therapy due to its excellent synergistic therapeutic effect. [23,24] Generally speaking, PDT consists of three basic components: a photosensitizer, light, and oxygen. [25,26] Photosensitive (PS) agents accept laser energy and convert O 2 into a highly reactive product ( 1 O 2 ) under light irradiation, which rapidly causes cell death via apoptosis or necrosis.…”

Biocompatible Nanocarriers for Enhanced Cancer Photodynamic Therapy Applications

“…A 21-day mice study demonstrated that the synthesized nanoparticles can control the tumor growth, and it was observed that the tumor weight was reduced approximately 53 times smaller than the PBS (-) group. The treatment approaches also ensure the low biotoxicity of nanoparticles in in vivo, and there were no noticeable weight changes and histopathological damages in all the studied groups [61]. Zheng et al (2016) synthesized protoporphyrin-loaded and Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) targeting motif coated carbon nitride-based multifunctional nanocomposite for enhanced PDT.…”

Metal-Organic Frameworks and Their Composites Towards Biomedical Applications

“…MOF derivatives based on MOF as sacrificial templates are for high loading anticancer drugs (Tang et al, 2017). Carbon nanostructure-containing PMCS from MOFs have excellent properties of sonosensitizer for SDT (Pan et al, 2018), photothermal conversion for PTT (Weng et al, 2020) and for CDT/PDT/PTT (Sui et al, 2021), and PAI-guided photothermal/ photodynamic combination therapy (Yang et al, 2018a). Besides, ultrasmall porphyrinic MOF nanodots (MOF QDs) prepared from NMOFs could generate twofold effective ROS and thus benefit enhanced PDT.…”