Mild photothermal therapy (mPTT), which circumvents the limitations of conventional photothermal therapy, is emerging and exhibits remarkable potential in clinical applications. Nevertheless, mPTT is not able to efficiently eradicate tumors because its therapeutic efficacy is dramatically diminished by stress-induced heat shock proteins (HSP). Herein, a core-shell structured Au@Pd (AP) bimetallic nanozyme was fabricated for reactive oxygen species (ROS) augmentation-induced mPTT. The nanocatalytic AP nanozymes with photothermal conversion performance harbor multienzymatic (catalase, oxidase, and peroxidase) activities to induce ROS storm formation. The generated ROS could suppress the heat-defense response of tumor cells by cleaving HSP. Overall, our work highlights a ROS-regulating strategy to counteract hyperthermia-associated resistance in mPTT.
Keywords: biomaterial; heat shock proteins; mild photothermal therapy; multienzymatic activities; nanozymes; reactive oxygen species.