Carbon nanosphere based bifunctional oxidoreductase nano-catalytic agent to mitigate hypoxia in cancer cells

• Published in: International journal of biological macromolecules Vol. 233; p. 123466
• Main Authors: Shukla, Ashish K., Randhawa, Shiwani, Saini, Trilok Chand, Acharya, Amitabha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.04.2023
• Subjects: Carbon - chemistry; Carbon nanozyme; Catalase and peroxidase activity; Humans; Hydrogen Peroxide - chemistry; Hypoxia; Nano catalytic medicine; Nanospheres; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Oxidative stress; Carbon nanozyme; Catalase and peroxidase activity; Oxidative stress; Hypoxia; Nano catalytic medicine
• ISSN: 0141-8130; 1879-0003
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.123466

Developing metal-free carbon nanozyme for tumor hypoxia is difficult. In biomedical applications, especially in the case of biomolecular detection, extensive research has been done on nanozymes with enzyme-mimicking catalytic activity. However, there are considerably fewer investigations on targeted nano-catalytic tumor therapy. Nano catalytic medicine-enabled chemotherapy is a safe and promising treatment strategy that involves the conversion of excess H2O2 into O2 in a tumor environment. Here we have synthesized carbon nanosphere (CNS) using the Camellia sinensis plant (CS-CNS). Further surface functionalization was achieved via nitrilotriacetic acid conjugation (NTA@CS-CNS). A stability study of synthesized nanozyme in the presence of various cations, anions, and 5 different pH range suggested the robustness of carbon based nanoassembly. The catalytic in vitro study shows that NTA@CS-CNS mimics peroxidase and catalase using TMB and H2O2 as substrates. NTA@CS-CNS showed Km and Vmax values of ~ 193.2 μM and 0.43 μM/s, ~ 413 μM and 1.42 μM/s, and ~ 378 μM and 1.63 μM/s, respectively when H2O2 and TMB was used for CAT and POD activity. Results showed that NTA@CS-CNS in combination with SFN and laser irradiation reduces hypoxia. Hence, our study could pave the path for the development of different non-toxic nano catalytic therapy for tumors in cancerous cells.