Affiliation:
1. Materdicine Lab School of Life Sciences Shanghai University Shanghai 200444 P. R. China
2. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering Shanghai University Shanghai 200444 P. R. China
3. School of Medicine Shanghai University Shanghai 200444 P. R. China
4. Department of Ultrasound Shanghai General Hospital Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine Shanghai 200080 P. R. China
5. Oujiang Laboratory (Zhejiang Lab for Regenerative Medicine, Vision, and Brain Health) Wenzhou Institute of Shanghai University Wenzhou Zhejiang 325088 P. R. China
Abstract
AbstractPhotosynthesis, essential for life on earth, sustains diverse processes by providing nutrition in plants and microorganisms. Especially, photosynthesis is increasingly applied in disease treatments, but its efficacy is substantially limited by the well‐known low penetration depth of external light. Here, ultrasound‐mediated photosynthesis is reported for enhanced sonodynamic tumor therapy using organic sonoafterglow (ultrasound‐induced afterglow) nanoparticles combined with cyanobacteria, demonstrating the proof‐of‐concept sonosynthesis (sonoafterglow‐induced photosynthesis) in cancer therapy. Chlorin e6, a typical small‐molecule chlorine, is formulated into nanoparticles to stimulate cyanobacteria for sonosynthesis, which serves three roles, i.e., overcoming the tissue‐penetration limitations of external light sources, reducing hypoxia, and acting as a sonosensitizer for in vivo tumor suppression. Furthermore, sonosynthetic oxygenation suppresses the expression of hypoxia‐inducible factor 1α, leading to reduced stability of downstream SLC7A11 mRNA, which results in glutathione depletion and inactivation of glutathione peroxidase 4, thereby inducing ferroptosis of cancer cells. This study not only broadens the scope of microbial nanomedicine but also offers a distinct direction for sonosynthesis.
Funder
Shanghai Shuguang Program