MnS Nanocapsule Mediates Mitochondrial Membrane Permeability Transition for Tumor Ion-Interference Therapy

"Structure subserves function" is one fundamental biological maxim, and so the biological membrane that delimits the regions primarily serves as the margin between life and death for individual cells. Here, an Oswald ripening mechanism-guided solvothermal method was proposed for the synthesis of uniform MnS nanocapsules assembled with metastable γ-MnS nanocrystals. Through designing the physicochemical properties, MnS nanocapsules would disaggregate into small γ-MnS nanocrystals in a tumor acidic environment, with the surface potential switched from negative to positive, thus showing conspicuous delivery performance. More significantly, the specific accumulation of Mn²⁺ in mitochondria was promoted due to the downregulation of mitochondrial calcium uptake 1 (MICU1) by the formed H₂S, thus leading to serious mitochondrial Mn-poisoning for membrane permeability increase and then tumor apoptosis. This study provides a synthesis strategy of metal sulfide nanocapsules and encourages multidisciplinary researchers to focus on ion-cancer crosstalk for the development of an antitumor strategy.