Volume 133, Issue 39 pp. 21370-21374
Zuschrift

Hypoxia-Responsive Gene Editing to Reduce Tumor Thermal Tolerance for Mild-Photothermal Therapy

Xueqing Li

Xueqing Li

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Yongchun Pan

Yongchun Pan

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Chao Chen

Chao Chen

School of Medicine & Holistic Integrative Medicine, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Canter of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210023 China

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Dr. Yanfeng Gao

Dr. Yanfeng Gao

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023 China

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Dr. Xinli Liu

Dr. Xinli Liu

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023 China

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Dr. Kaiyong Yang

Dr. Kaiyong Yang

School of Medicine & Holistic Integrative Medicine, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Canter of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210023 China

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Xiaowei Luan

Xiaowei Luan

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023 China

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Dongtao Zhou

Dongtao Zhou

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023 China

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Fei Zeng

Fei Zeng

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023 China

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Prof. Dr. Xin Han

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Xin Han

School of Medicine & Holistic Integrative Medicine, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Canter of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210023 China

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Prof. Dr. Yujun Song

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Yujun Song

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023 China

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First published: 23 July 2021
Citations: 12

Abstract

Near-infrared (NIR)-light-triggered photothermal therapy (PTT) is usually associated with undesirable damage to healthy organs nearby due to the high temperatures (>50 °C) available for tumor ablation. Low-temperature PTT would therefore have tremendous value for clinical application. Here, we construct a hypoxia-responsive gold nanorods (AuNRs)-based nanocomposite of CRISPR-Cas9 for mild-photothermal therapy via tumor-targeted gene editing. AuNRs are modified with azobenzene-4,4′-dicarboxylic acid (p-AZO) to achieve on-demand release of CRISPR-Cas9 using hypoxia-responsive azo bonds. In the hypoxic tumor microenvironment, the azo groups of the hypoxia-activated CRISPR-Cas9 nanosystem based on gold nanorods (APACPs) are selectively reduced by the overexpression of reductases, leading to the release of Cas9 and subsequent gene editing. Owing to the knockout of HSP90α for reducing the thermal resistance of cancer cells, highly effective tumor ablation both in vitro and in vivo was achieved with APACPs under mild PTT.

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