Issue 31, 2024

A metal-coordination stabilized small-molecule nanomedicine with high drug-loading capacity and synergistic photochemotherapy for cancer treatment

Abstract

Conventional nanomedicines typically employ a significant amount of excipients as carriers for therapeutic delivery, resulting in generally low drug-loading and compromised anti-cancer efficacy. Here, we propose a small-molecule nanomedicine (CMC NP) directly assembled using a chemotherapeutic drug (chlorambucil, CBL) and a phototherapeutic agent (chlorin e6, Ce6), and stabilized by metal coordination. The CMC NP exhibits exceptionally high drug loading (89.21%), robust stability, and smart disassembly in response to glutathione (GSH). Such a straightforward yet multifunctional delivery strategy could be a better alternative to overcome the above shortcomings of conventional nanomedicines while achieving enhanced efficacy. The CMC NP not only directly induces CBL-induced chemotherapy but also elicits synergistic antitumor responses through Ce6-mediated photodynamic and photothermal therapies. Owing to the multifaceted efforts from photodynamic, photothermal and chemo-therapies, the CMC NP exhibits excellent antitumor efficacy with negligible systemic toxicity which is untenable in traditional CBL-induced chemotherapy. Therefore, this study provides a feasible strategy for overcoming existing challenges and presents a potential opportunity to augment the clinical therapeutic effectiveness associated with conventional nanomedicine.

Graphical abstract: A metal-coordination stabilized small-molecule nanomedicine with high drug-loading capacity and synergistic photochemotherapy for cancer treatment

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 May 2024
Accepted
06 Jul 2024
First published
08 Jul 2024

Nanoscale, 2024,16, 14734-14747

A metal-coordination stabilized small-molecule nanomedicine with high drug-loading capacity and synergistic photochemotherapy for cancer treatment

H. Chen, H. Qu, B. Lu, Y. Pan, J. Yang, Z. Duan, J. Wu, Y. Wang, C. Wang, R. Hu and X. Xue, Nanoscale, 2024, 16, 14734 DOI: 10.1039/D4NR02101K

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