AIEgens/Mitochondria Nanohybrids as Bioactive Microwave Sensitizers for Non-Thermal Microwave Cancer Therapy

Xinghua Yu; Ming Lyu; Xupei Ou; Wenquan Liu; Xing Yang; Xiaoxi Ma; Tianfu Zhang; Longnan Wang; Ying-Chuan Zhang; Sijie Chen; Ryan T K Kwok; Zheng Zheng; Hong-Liang Cui; Lintao Cai; Pengfei Zhang; Ben Zhong Tang

doi:10.1002/adhm.202202907

AIEgens/Mitochondria Nanohybrids as Bioactive Microwave Sensitizers for Non-Thermal Microwave Cancer Therapy

Adv Healthc Mater. 2023 May;12(12):e2202907. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202202907. Epub 2023 Feb 17.

Authors

Xinghua Yu^{1

2}, Ming Lyu¹, Xupei Ou¹, Wenquan Liu³, Xing Yang^{1

4}, Xiaoxi Ma^{1

4}, Tianfu Zhang⁵, Longnan Wang¹, Ying-Chuan Zhang⁶, Sijie Chen⁷, Ryan T K Kwok⁵, Zheng Zheng^{3

4

8}, Hong-Liang Cui^{3

4}, Lintao Cai^{1

4}, Pengfei Zhang^{1

4}, Ben Zhong Tang⁹

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nanomedicine, Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory of nanomedicine and nanoformulations, CAS-HK Joint Lab for Biomaterials, CAS Key Lab for Health Informatics, Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.
² Department of Urology & Andrology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310016, P. R. China.
³ Center for Opto-Electronic Engineering and Technology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.
⁴ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, 999077, P. R. China.
⁶ Morningside Laboratory for Chemical Biology, Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, P. R. China.
⁷ Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Hong Kong, 999077, P. R. China.
⁸ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, P. R. China.
⁹ School of Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Institute of Aggregate Science and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518172, P. R. China.

PMID: 36802128
DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202202907

Abstract

Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) are widely used as photosensitizers for image-guided photodynamic therapy (PDT). Due to the limited penetration depth of light in biological tissues, the treatments of deep-seated tumors by visible-light-sensitized aggregation-induced emission (AIE) photosensitizers are severely hampered. Microwave dynamic therapy attracts much attention because microwave irradiation can penetrate very deep tissues and sensitize the photosensitizers to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this work, a mitochondrial-targeting AIEgen (DCPy) is integrated with living mitochondria to form a bioactive AIE nanohybrid. This nanohybrid can not only generate ROS under microwave irradiation to induce apoptosis of deep-seated cancer cells but also reprogram the metabolism pathway of cancer cells through retrieving oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) instead of glycolysis to enhance the efficiency of microwave dynamic therapy. This work demonstrates an effective strategy to integrate synthetic AIEgens and natural living organelles, which would inspire more researchers to develop advanced bioactive nanohybrids for cancer synergistic therapy.

Keywords: aggregation-induced emission; bioactive materials; microwave dynamic therapy; mitochondria; reactive oxygen species.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Microwaves
Mitochondria / metabolism
Neoplasms* / drug therapy
Photochemotherapy*
Photosensitizing Agents / pharmacology
Photosensitizing Agents / therapeutic use
Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism

Substances

Photosensitizing Agents
Reactive Oxygen Species