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

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.

Bridging the gap between in vitro and in vivo models: a way forward to clinical translation of mitochondrial transplantation in acute disease states

“…This strategy resulted in significantly more accumulation in cultured mammospheres and longer retention time in vivo compared to controls. Mitochondria can also be functionalized with lipid-modified photosensitizers to combine mitochondrial transplantation with photodynamic therapy for cancer treatment [37,38]. The potential of biomaterials to accelerate the utility of mitochondrial transplantation is significant: from synergistic combinations with excipient drugs to stimulusresponsive release and activation strategies.…”

Magnetic Bimetallic Heterointerface Nanomissiles with Enhanced Microwave Absorption for Microwave Thermal/Dynamics Therapy of Breast Cancer

“…However, the nonselectivity of MW irradiation makes it still a challenge to completely ablate a tumor lesion while ensuring the safety of adjacent normal tissue, especially for these large or irregularly shaped tumors, ultimately resulting in tumor residual and recurrence . To further expand the clinical application potential of MWT, a series of MW sensitizers with the aim of enhancing MW heating efficiency of tumor sites have been developed. − The heating principle of these MW sensitizers was mostly based on the ion confinement effect, a mechanism whereby the movement of ions within the confined space provided by the MW sensitizer is accelerated under MW irradiation to generate kinetic energy for further conversion into heat . Though they can improve the MW thermal effect of a tumor to a certain extent after being enriched in tumor sites, the uniformity of the induced thermal damage is still greatly limited by the ionic state within the cell, such as the concentration and the distribution of ions. − Recently, MW absorbing materials (MAMs), as a class of materials that can essentially promote the energy conversion between electromagnetic energy and thermal energy to generate excellent thermal effects, have attracted increasing attention and shown the potential to solve the limitations of existing MW thermal sensitizers. − Regrettably, the absorption frequencies of most MAMs are mainly distributed in the mid- and high-frequency bands, − and few have been reported to achieve strong microwave absorption (MA) performance at medical frequencies (433, 915, and 2450 MHz) .…”

Ferritin-nanocaged aggregation-induced emission nanoaggregates for NIR-II fluorescence-guided noninvasive, controllable male contraception

“…Driven by the rapid progress in nanotechnology, nanocarriers have emerged as an incredibly promising strategy for precise drug delivery [ [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] ]. In particular, human heavy chain ferritin (HFn) has garnered attention as an effective drug delivery carrier for cancer therapy [ [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] ].…”