Oxygen-Deficient Tungsten Oxide (WO) Nanobelts with pH-Sensitive Degradation for Enhanced Sonodynamic Therapy of...

The further bioapplications of sonodynamic therapy (SDT) were hindered by the inadequate efficiency and poor degradability of sonosensitizers and the hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME). Therefore, it is ideal to develop pH-sensitive sonosensitizers that generate abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) and rapidly degrade in a neutral environment while slowly degrading in an acidic environment to reduce their long-term toxicity. Herein, the defective tungsten oxide nanobelts (WO NBs) were developed as a type of pH-sensitive and biodegradable sonosensitizers with a high SDT efficiency and low toxicity for enhanced SDT. The defective oxygen sites of WO NBs could inhibit the recombination of electrons and holes, making WO NBs promising sonosensitizers that could generate abundant ROS under ultrasound (US) irradiation. Enhanced by the catalase (CAT) that reacted with H₂O₂ to generate O₂, the WO NBs exhibited better SDT performance against 4T1 cells in both normoxic and hypoxic environments. In addition, the WO NBs could degrade by releasing protons (H⁺), resulting in intracellular acidification and inhibited cell motility that further enhanced the therapeutic effects of SDT. Assisted with CAT and ALG for hypoxia refinement and better retention, the WO NBs enabled effective SDT and antimetastasis against 4T1 tumors in vivo. Most importantly, the WO NBs could degrade rapidly in normal tissues but slowly in an acidic TME, which was favorable for their fast clearance, without any obvious long-term toxicity. Our work developed defective WO NBs with a high SDT efficiency and pH-sensitive degradation for enhanced SDT, which extended the biomedical application of tungsten-based nanomaterials and the further development of SDT.