Self-delivery of a metal-coordinated anti-angiogenic nanodrug with GSH depleting ability for synergistic chemo-phototherapy

Synergistic chemo-phototherapy has offered tremendous potential in cancer treatment. Nevertheless, nanosystems usually suffer from the complexity of multicomponents (polymeric or inorganic materials), which results in carrier-related toxicity issues. Moreover, the GSH over-expression of tumor cells seriously compromises ROS therapeutic efficiency. Herein, we designed a self-delivered nanodrug via Cu(ii) coordination-driven co-self-assembly of celastrol (CST, a chemo-drug with anti-angiogenesis activity) and indocyanine green (ICG, a photosensitizer) for synergistic chemo-phototherapy with GSH depletion. The nanodrug was further cloaked by an erythrocyte membrane (RBC) to prolong the circulation time. Within the tumor microenvironment, the nanodrug would be disassembled upon intracellular GSH triggering. Moreover, the released Cu(ii) could efficiently deplete the GSH, thus damaging the ROS-scavenging system and amplifying the phototherapeutic efficiency upon laser irradiation. The in vivo experiments validated the highly effective accumulation at tumor sites, potent tumor growth inhibition, and inappreciable systemic toxicity. The tumor microenvironment-responsive coordination-driven self-assembled biomimetic nanodrug may hold potential applications in tumor theranostics. A GSH-responsive Cu(ii)-coordinated anti-angiogenic nanodrug was developed by the metal-coordination-driven assembly of an anti-angiogenic drug and photosensitizer for synergistic chemo-phototherapy with GSH depletion.

Automated summary

In this study, a GSH-responsive nanodrug was developed by the metal-coordination-driven assembly of an anti-angiogenic drug and photosensitizer. The nanodrug could efficiently deplete GSH and achieve synergistic chemo-phototherapy in the tumor microenvironment.