In photothermal treatments (PTTs), normal tissues around cancerous tumors get injured by excessive heat, whereas damaged cancer cells are easily restored by stress-induced heat shock proteins (HSPs) at low temperatures. Therefore, to achieve a unique tumor microenvironment (TME), it is imperative to increase PTT efficiency and reduce normal tissue injury by adopting appropriate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxides (LPO) cross-linked with HSPs. In the present research, a potential strategy for mild photothermal treatments (mPTTs) was proposed by initiating localized catalytic chemical reactions in TME based on Pd nanozyme-modified hydrogenated TiO2 (H-TiO2@Pd). In vitro and in vivo evaluations demonstrated that H-TiO2@Pd had good peroxidase-like activities (POD), glutathione oxidase-like activities (GSHOx), and photodynamic properties and also satisfactory biocompatibility for 4T1 cells. Localized catalytic chemical reactions in H-TiO2@Pd significantly depleted GSH to downregulate the protein expression of GPX4 and promoted the accumulation of LPO and ROS, which consumed HSP70 or inhibited its function in 4T1 cells. Hence, the as-constructed low-temperature photothermal therapeutic platform based on Pd nanozyme-modified H-TiO2 can be a promising candidate to develop a safe and effective mPTT for cancer treatments.
Keywords: H-TiO2; Pd nanozyme; heat shock protein; low-temperature photothermal therapy; reactive oxygen species (ROS).