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Self-assembled manganese phthalocyanine nanoparticles with enhanced peroxidase-like activity for anti-tumor therapy

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Abstract

The use of functional nanoparticles as peroxidase-like (POD-like) catalyst has recently become a focus of research in cancer therapy. Phthalocyanine is a macrocyclic conjugated metal ligand, which is expected to achieve a high POD-like catalytic activity, generating free radicals and inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells. In this paper, we synthesized phthalocyanine nanocrystals with different structures through noncovalent self-assembly confined within micro-emulsion droplets, and manganese phthalocyanine (MnPc) possessing a metal-N-C active center was used as the building block. These nano-assemblies exhibit shape-dependent POD-like catalytic activities, because the emulsifier and MnPc co-mixed assembly reduced the close packing between MnPc molecules and exposed more active sites. The assembly had a water-dispersed nanostructure, which is conducive to accumulation at tumor sites through the enhanced permeability and retention effect (EPR). Because of a highly efficient microenvironmental response, the assembly showed higher catalytic activity only emerged under the acidic tumor-like microenvironment, but caused less damage to normal tissues in biomedical applications. In vivo and in vitro catalytic therapy tests showed excellent anti-tumor effects. This work explored a new way for the application of metal-organic macromolecules such as MnPc as nanozymes for catalytic tumor therapy.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21771055 and U1604139), the Zhongyuan High Level Talents Special Support Plan (No. 204200510010), and the Scientific and Technological Innovation Team in University of Henan Province (No. 20IRTSTHN001). J. Wang was supported by Henan University to visit the University of Waterloo.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for High efficiency Display and Lighting Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Nano Functional Materials and Applications, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, China

    Jinghan Wang, Shanqing Gao, Haozhen Zhang, Xitong Ren & Feng Bai

  2. Department of Chemistry, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Jinghan Wang & Juewen Liu

  3. Henan and Macquarie University Joint Centre for Biomedical Innovation, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, China

    Xiao Wang

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  1. Jinghan Wang
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  2. Shanqing Gao
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Correspondence to Juewen Liu or Feng Bai.

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Wang, J., Gao, S., Wang, X. et al. Self-assembled manganese phthalocyanine nanoparticles with enhanced peroxidase-like activity for anti-tumor therapy. Nano Res. 15, 2347–2354 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3854-5

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