Oxygen-evolving hollow polydopamine alleviates tumour hypoxia for enhancing photodynamic therapy in cancer treatment.

Abstract

Hypoxia, a characteristic hallmark of solid tumours, restricts the therapeutic effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer treatment. To address this issue, a facile and nanosized oxygen (O2) bubble template is established by mixing oxygenated water and water-soluble solvents for guiding hollow polydopamine (HPDA) synthesis, and O2 is encapsulated in the cavity of HPDA. HPDA with abundant catechol is designed as a carrier for zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc, a boronic acid modified photosensitizer) via borate ester bonds to fabricate nanomedicine (denoted as HZNPs). The in vitro and in vivo results indicate that O2-evolving HZNPs could alleviate tumour hypoxia and enhance PDT-anticancer efficiency. Melanin-like HPDA with a photothermal conversion rate (η) of 38.2% shows excellent synergistic photothermal therapy (PTT) efficiency in cancer treatment.

• Authors: Qichen Zhan, Xuan Han, Jiankang Mu, Xianqing Shi, Yuhan Zheng, Ting Wang, Tao Cao, Yulu Xi, Zhongpei Weng, Xiaoqing Wang, Peng Cao
• Journal: Nanoscale advances (Nanoscale Adv) Vol. 4 Issue 23 Pg. 5021-5026 (Nov 22 2022) ISSN: 2516-0230 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 36504744 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.