A cerium single-atom catalyst enables targeted catalytic therapy for acute kidney injury via neutrophil hitchhiking

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a major role in driving acute kidney injury (AKI) by causing oxidative stress and triggering inflammatory responses. However, treatment of AKI with traditional nanomedicines is still challenging because of low ROS scavenging efficacy and poor inflammatory chemotactic. Herein, we have constructed a novel cerium single-atom catalyst (A-CeSACs) for AKI catalytic therapy which targets inflammation and mimics several enzymatic redox activities. After injection of A-CeSACs into AKI mice via tail vein, targeting damaged kidney sites is realized by hitchhiking neutrophils that naturally target sites of inflammation via chemotaxis. After entering the AKI inflammatory environment, A-CeSACs rapidly scavenge multiple ROS via the Ce³⁺/Ce⁴⁺ redox reaction, thus reducing the release of inflammatory factors. The designed A-CeSACs displayed remarkably catalytic therapy efficacy in glycerol-induced AKI mice models. Overall, the present study describes a novel therapeutic strategy for targeted AKI catalytic therapy that is also potentially applicable to other inflammation-related diseases.