A multifunctional cascade bioreactor based on a layered double oxides composite hydrogel for synergetic tumor chemodynamic/starvation/photothermal therapy

Abstract

The field of nanomedicine-catalyzed tumor therapy has achieved a lot of progress; however, overcoming the limitations of the tumor microenvironment (TME) to achieve the desired therapeutic effect remains a major challenge. In this study, a nanocomposite hydrogel (GH@LDO) platform combining the nanozyme CoMnFe-layered double oxides (CoMnFe-LDO) and natural enzyme glucose oxidase (GOX) was engineered to remodel the TME to enhance tumor catalytic therapy. The CoMnFe-LDO is a nanozyme that can convert endogenous H2O2 into reactive oxygen species (ROS) and O2 to achieve chemodynamic therapy (CDT) and alleviate the hypoxic microenvironment. Meanwhile, GOX can catalyze the conversion of glucose and O2 to gluconic acid and H2O2, which not only represses the ATP production of tumor cells to achieve starvation therapy (ST), but also decreases the pH value of TME and supplies extra H2O2 to enhance the CDT effect. Furthermore, this well-designed CoMnFe-LDO possessed a high photothermal conversion efficiency of GH@LDO (66.63%), which could promote the generation of ROS to enhance the CDT effect and achieve photothermal therapy (PTT) under near-infrared light irradiation. The GH@LDO hydrogel performes cascade reaction which overcomes the limitation of the TME and achieves satisfactory CDT/ST/PTT synergetic effects in vitro and in vivo. This work provides a new strategy for remodeling the TME using nanomedicine to achieve precise tumor cascaded catalytic therapy. Statement of significanceAt present, the focus of tumor therapy has begun to shift from monotherapy to combination therapy for improving the overall therapeutic effect. In this study, we synthesized a CoMnFe-LDO nanozyme composed of multiple transition metal oxides, which demonstrated improved peroxidase and oxidase activities as well as favorable photothermal conversion capability. The CoMnFe-LDO nanozyme was compounded with an injectable GH hydrogel crosslinked by GOX and horseradish peroxidase (HRP). This nanocomposite hydrogel overcame the limitations of weak acidity, H2O2, and O2 levels in the TME and achieved synergetic CDT, ST, and PTT effects based on the cascaded catalytic actions of CoMnFe-LDO and GOX to H2O2 and glucose.