Optically tunable catalytic cancer therapy using enzyme-like chiral plasmonic nanoparticles

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Photochemistry

Background:

• Cascade enzymatic reactions are crucial for biological processes.
• Mimicking these reactions with nanoparticles is challenging due to difficulties in tuning individual steps.
• Chirality plays a role in biological recognition and catalytic processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop optically tunable, enzyme-like chiral plasmonic nanoparticles for cancer therapy.
• To investigate the effect of sequential circularly polarized light (CPL) activation on cascade reactions.
• To enhance catalytic efficiency and therapeutic outcomes through chirality and light control.

Main Methods:

• Chiral plasmonic nanoparticles with glucose oxidase (GOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities were synthesized.
• Sequential activation of GOD and POD reactions using right-handed CPL (RC) and left-handed CPL (LC) was employed.
• Catalytic performance, substrate binding selectivity, and therapeutic efficacy were evaluated in vitro and in vivo.

Main Results:

• Sequential CPL activation (RC followed by LC) enhanced cascade reactions by 1.3 times compared to non-controlled reactions.
• D-Au nanoparticles exhibited 2-fold higher binding selectivity to D-glucose substrates due to chirality matching.
• Sequentially irradiated groups showed significantly higher radical generation and improved cancer treatment outcomes in cell and mouse models.

Conclusions:

• Enzyme-like chiral plasmonic nanoparticles offer an optically tunable platform for enhanced cascade catalysis.
• Sequential CPL control optimizes reaction conditions, leading to improved therapeutic efficacy.
• This approach presents a promising strategy for advanced catalytic cancer therapy.