Anhui Agricultural University

Hydrogen therapy as an emerging strategy for anticancer medicine is attracting attention. However, the limitations of effective hydrogen storage and release have hindered its development and application for hydrogen therapy. Herein, a high hydrogen storage nanoquadruplex (PdH_0.2)₄Se based on a palladium-selenium core has been designed and shows enhanced intratumoral accumulation via an enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. High-efficiency hydrogen can be released from (PdH_0.2)₄Se, activated by near infrared irradiation (NIR), and combines with available selenium (Se) to produce highly toxic hydrogen selenide (H₂Se), which in turn unbalances the GSH/GSSG ratio and induces ROS overproduction. The effect demonstrates that (PdH_0.2)₄Se irradiated by NIR significantly inhibits cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion and angiogenesis in vitro. Furthermore, irradiation of (PdH_0.2)₄Se by NIR can induce significant ferroptosis of cancer cells by triggering mitochondrial dysfunction, ROS generation and lipid peroxidation-mediated oxidative damage in vitro. Finally, NIR irradiated (PdH_0.2)₄Se also exhibits tumor-targeted photothermal imaging, and inhibition of tumor growth in vivo activating cancer ferroptosis. Importantly, (PdH_0.2)₄Se demonstrates excellent safety and biocompatibility in vitro and in vivo. Thus together, our findings support the rational design of an effective hydrogen storage (PdH_0.2)₄Se nanoquadruplex with NIR-controlled release causing an unbalance of cellular GSH/GSSG and inducing cancer ferroptosis could be a highly efficient strategy for hydrogen-mediated cancer therapy.

Diabetic osteoporosis (DOP), a grievous complication of diabetes mellitus, is marked by accelerated bone loss and heightened fracture susceptibility, thereby necessitating early detection and therapeutic intervention. To address this unmet clinical need, we herein report a polymeric nano-spy (RAFP NP) that can activate its near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence and release therapeutic drug in response to specific early-stage stimuli within the DOP environment for the diagnosis and treatment of DOP. RAFP NPs are self-assembled from an integrin-targeted and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive amphiphilic copolymer (PLGA-TK-cRGD) that encapsulates the near-infrared fluorochrome Cy5 and the anti-ferroptosis drug Fer-1. Such structural design allows RAFP NPs to actively target the DOP region through specific interaction with the overexpressed integrin αvβ3 receptors and undergo the elevated ROS to induce the cleavage of thioketal (TK) moiety. Subsequently, RAFP NPs decompose to release Cy5 for NIR fluorescence imaging of DOP, while concurrently releasing Fer-1 to suppress osteoblast ferroptosis, promote osteogenesis, and ultimately reverse DOP progression. This study provides a potential tactic to construct smart nanoprobes for the early detection and treatment of DOP.

In recent years, metal ion pollution poses serious threats to human health and ecosystems, so there is a pressing need to develop rapid methods for simultaneous detection of multiple metal ions. Herein, we developed a fluorescent array sensor based on triple-color emission S,N-GQDs (sulfur and nitrogen co-doped graphene quantum dots) for the rapid discrimination and quantitative analysis of 10 metal ions in environmental samples. The triple-color fluorescence emission of S,N-GQDs exhibited distinct responses to different metal ions, which were effectively captured by linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), thereby facilitating the differentiation of both metal ions and their mixtures. The aforementioned 10 metal ions have been successfully discriminated over a broad concentration range (0-300 μM). Moreover, quantification of metal ions was achieved at a low concentration of 2.03 μM for Mn²⁺, 0.50 μM for Fe³⁺, 0.11 μM for Cu²⁺, 3.92 μM for Zn²⁺, 0.55 μM for Pb²⁺, 1.14 μM for Ni²⁺, 2.10 μM for Cd²⁺, 0.29 μM for Ag⁺, 1.14 μM for Co²⁺ and 0.96 μM for Ba²⁺. Moreover, the sensor array demonstrated excellent recovery rates for metal ions in water samples (tap water and lake water), indicating great application prospects in environmental water monitoring.