Volume 17, Issue 40 2102046
Research Article

Functionalized Tumor-Targeting Nanosheets Exhibiting Fe(II) Overloading and GSH Consumption for Ferroptosis Activation in Liver Tumor

Ke Li

Ke Li

Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

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Kun Xu

Kun Xu

Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

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Ye He

Ye He

Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

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Lu Lu

Lu Lu

Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

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Yulan Mao

Yulan Mao

Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

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Pengfei Gao

Pengfei Gao

Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

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Genhua Liu

Genhua Liu

Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

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Jing Wu

Jing Wu

Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

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Yuchen Zhang

Yuchen Zhang

School of Life Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

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Yang Xiang

Yang Xiang

Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

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Zhong Luo

Corresponding Author

Zhong Luo

School of Life Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

E-mail: [email protected]

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Kaiyong Cai

Corresponding Author

Kaiyong Cai

Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 P. R. China

E-mail: [email protected]

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First published: 27 August 2021
Citations: 46

Abstract

Liver tumor is difficult to cure for its high degree of malignancy and rapid progression characteristics. Ferroptosis as a new model of inducing cell death is expected to break the treatment bottleneck of liver tumors. Here, a strategy to induce ferroptosis in HepG2 cells with acid-degradable tumor targeted nanosheets Cu-Hemin-PEG-Lactose acid (Cu-Hemin-PEG-LA) is proposed. After highly ingested by HepG2 cells, Cu-Hemin-PEG-LA nanosheets are degraded by weak acid and release Cu(II) and hemin, which consuming intracellular glutathione (GSH) content and increasing the expression of heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX1) protein, respectively. Furthermore, the expression of glutathione peroxidase 4 protein (GPX4) is down-regulated by consumption intracellular GSH content via converting GSH into glutathione oxidized (GSSG), which is named the classical mode. The intracellular Fe2+ content is overloaded by the significant up-regulation of HMOX1 expression, which is denoted as nonclassical mode. The synergistic effect of classical and nonclassical mode increased the intracellular lipid reactive oxide species, induced the occurrence of ferroptosis and up-regulated the expression of BH3 interacting domain death agonist (BID), apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF), and endonuclease G proteins (EndoG). The synergistic strategy demonstrate the excellent ferroptosis induction ability and antitumor efficacy in vivo, which provides great potential for the clinical transformation of ferroptosis.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

Research data are not shared.

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