National Nano Center Academician Zhao Yuliang/Li Lele Angew: Self-assembled copper-DNA enzyme nano-hybrid materials for dual-catalysis tumor therapy

Although DNase plays an important role in gene therapy, its clinical application is still subject to many restrictions due to the lack of a simple drug delivery system and its own limited anti-cancer effects. Researcher Li Lele and Academician Zhao Yuliang of the National Nanoscience Center have developed a simple method to synthesize a nano-hybrid structure composed of DNAse and Cu2+ with ultra-high loading capacity.



Key points of this article:
(1) The Cu-DNA enzyme nanohybrid can effectively co-deliver DNase and Cu2+ to cancer cells for combined catalytic therapy. The released Cu2+ can be reduced by glutathione to Cu+, and then catalyzes endogenous H2O2 to form cytotoxic hydroxyl radicals for chemokinetic therapy (CDT), while 10-23 DNA enzyme can catalyze cleavage VEGFR2 mRNA, live gene silencing for gene therapy.



(2) Studies have shown that the nano-hybrid can effectively accumulate in tumors and exhibit an amplified cascading anti-tumor effect, while the systemic toxicity caused by it is negligible. In summary, this work provides an effective new method for combining DNase and CDT for dual-catalytic tumor therapy.



references:
Congzhi Liu. et al. Self-Assembly of Copper-DNAzyme Nanohybrids for Dual-Catalytic Tumor Therapy. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2021
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202101744
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202101744