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Updated: Nov 22, 2025
Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs
Published on: January 17, 2020
Metal-Organic Framework-Integrated Enzymes as Bioreactor for Enhanced Therapy against Solid Tumor via a Cascade
Jing Bai1, Chengjia Peng1, Liping Guo1
1Key Laboratory of Nanobiosensing and Nanobioanalysis at Universities of Jilin Province, Key Laboratory of Polyoxometalate Science of Ministry of Education, National & Local United Engineering Laboratory for Power Batteries, Department of Chemistry, Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, Changchun, Jilin 130024, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Emerging natural-enzyme-based nanocatalytic tumor therapy depending on the high catalytic performance of natural enzymes has inspired great research interest in clinical applications. Nevertheless, the natural-enzyme-based catalytic therapy efficiency is seriously hampered by the low operational stability, poor delivery efficiency, and the short lifetime of enzymes. Herein, a bioreactor based on zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) was fabricated through one-pot embedding horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and glucose oxidase (Gox) strategy (ZIF-8@Gox/HRP) for synergistic cancer therapy. Notably, the obtained ZIF-8@Gox/HRP can efficiently consume endogenous glucose to generate gluconic acid and H2O2 for starving tumors, and subsequently, H2O2 was decomposed by encapsulated HRP to release high-toxic •OH radicals, inducing cancer cell apoptosis for oxidation therapy. Importantly, in vivo results showed that ZIF-8@Gox/HRP had an impressive tumor-suppression rate based on cascade catalytic reaction. Therefore, this work paves a new avenue to design smart enzyme-based platforms for safe and efficient cancer therapy.
Insights
This study introduces a novel bioreactor (ZIF-8@Gox/HRP) for cancer therapy. It uses enzymes to generate toxic radicals, effectively suppressing tumors and offering a new approach for safe and efficient treatments.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Nanotechnology
- Cancer Therapy
Background:
- Natural enzyme-based cancer therapy shows promise but suffers from poor stability and delivery.
- Limitations include low operational stability, inefficient delivery, and short enzyme lifetimes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a stable and efficient enzyme-based bioreactor for synergistic cancer therapy.
- To overcome the limitations of natural enzymes in catalytic cancer treatment.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of a zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) bioreactor encapsulating glucose oxidase (Gox) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) (ZIF-8@Gox/HRP).
- Utilizing the bioreactor for a cascade catalytic reaction to generate reactive oxygen species for tumor treatment.
Main Results:
- The ZIF-8@Gox/HRP bioreactor consumed endogenous glucose to produce gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
- Encapsulated HRP decomposed H2O2 to generate highly toxic hydroxyl radicals (•OH), inducing cancer cell apoptosis.
- In vivo studies demonstrated a significant tumor-suppression rate attributed to the cascade reaction.
Conclusions:
- The developed ZIF-8@Gox/HRP bioreactor offers a stable and efficient platform for enzyme-based cancer therapy.
- This approach provides a new strategy for designing smart, enzyme-based platforms for safe and effective cancer treatment.
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