A hydrogen sulphide-responsive and depleting nanoplatform for cancer photodynamic therapy

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 1685 - 16
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yuqi, Fang, Jing, Ye, Shuyue, Zhao, Yan, Wang, Anna, Mao, Qiulian, Cui, Chaoxiang, Feng, Yali, Li, Jiachen, Li, Sunao, Zhang, Mingyang, Shi, Haibin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 30.03.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 101/1; 14/19; 14/34; 140/58; 147/143; 631/1647/1888/1493; 631/67/1059; 64/60; 692/53/2423; 96/31; Animals; Cancer; Colorectal cancer; Depletion; Diagnosis; Hemorrhage; Hepatotoxicity; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogen Sulfide; In vivo methods and tests; Medical imaging; Mice; Mitochondria; multidisciplinary; Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Photochemotherapy; Photodynamic therapy; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sulfides; Tumors
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29284-7

Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) as an important biological gasotransmitter plays a pivotal role in many physiological and pathological processes. The sensitive and quantitative detection of H 2 S level is therefore crucial for precise diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of various diseases but remains a huge challenge due to the lack of accurate and reliable analytical methods in vivo. In this work, we report a smart, H 2 S-responsive and depleting nanoplatform (ZNNPs) for quantitative and real-time imaging of endogenous H 2 S for early diagnosis and treatment of H 2 S-associated diseases. We show that ZNNPs exhibit unexpected NIR conversion (F 1070  → F 720 ) and ratiometric photoacoustic (PA 680 /PA 900 ) signal responsiveness towards H 2 S, allowing for sensitive and quantitative visualization of H 2 S in acute hepatotoxicity, cerebral hemorrhage model as well as colorectal tumors in living mice. ZNNPs@FA simultaneously scavenges the mitochondrial H 2 S in tumors leading to significant ATP reduction and severe mitochondrial damage, together with the activated photodynamic effect, resulting in efficient suppression of colorectal tumor growth in mice. We believe that this platform may provide a powerful tool for studying the vital impacts of H 2 S in related diseases. Abnormal levels of intracellular hydrogen sulphide (H2S) have been associated with different pathological conditions, including cancer. Here the authors report the design of a H2S-responsive and -depleting nanoplatform that, combined with NIR-II photodynamic properties, can be used for H2S imaging and cancer therapy.