Tumor Microenvironment-Activatable Cyclic Cascade Reaction to Reinforce Multimodal Combination Therapy by Destroying...

The optimal therapy effect of tumors is frequently restricted by the dense extracellular matrix (ECM) and anoxia. Herein, an intelligent BPNs-Arg-GOx@MnO₂ (BAGM) nanozyme is innovatively designed as a multimodal synergistic therapeutic paradigm that possesses both nitric oxide (NO) self-supplying and ECM degradation properties to reinforce the therapy effect by a tumor microenvironment (TME)-activatable cyclic cascade catalytic reaction. This theranostic nanoplatform is constructed by using polyethyleneimine-modified black phosphorus nanosheets as a "fishnet" to attach l-Arginine (l-Arg) and glucose oxidase (GOx) and then depositing mini-sized MnO₂ nanosheets (MNs) on the surface by a facile situ biomineralization method. As an intelligent "switch", the MNs can effectively trigger the cascade reaction by disintegrating intracellular H₂O₂ to release O₂. Then, the conjugated GOx can utilize O₂ production to catalyze intracellular glucose to generate H₂O₂, which not only starves the tumor cells but also promotes oxidation of l-Arg to NO. Thereafter, matrix metalloproteinases will be activated by NO production to degrade the dense ECM and transform matrix collagen into a loose state. In turn, a loose ECM can enhance the accumulation of the BAGM nanozyme and thereby reinforce synergistic photothermal therapy/starvation therapy/NO gas therapy. Both in vitro and in vivo results indicate that the TME-tunable BAGM therapeutic nanoplatform with cascade anticancer property and satisfactory biosecurity shows potential in nanomedicine.