Zinc Ion-Stabilized Aptamer-Targeted Black Phosphorus Nanosheets for Enhanced Photothermal/Chemotherapy Against Prostate Cancer

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the second most common malignancy among men worldwide. However, conventional chemotherapy, such as taxane therapy, fails to exhibit efficient treatment for almost half of the patients. In this study, a nano-drug delivery system based on black phosphorus nanosheets (BP NSs) was developed, which was then employed as a multifunctional nanoplatform for targeted combinational chemo-photothermal therapy against prostate cancer. Zinc ion (Zn 2+), which has been proven to be able to inhibit prostate cancer cell proliferation, was also introduced into this system. Zn 2+ coordination could not only enhance the therapeutic effect of combined chemophotothermal therapy, but also improve the intrinsic instability of BP NSs through the stabilization of its lone pair electrons. The in vivo study showed the outstanding performance of this system in targeted photothermal/chemotherapy of prostate cancer without side effect to normal organs.

Doxorubicin-Loaded Black Phosphorus Multifunctional Nanodelivery System Combined with Photothermal Therapy Promotes Immunogenic Death of Prostate Cancer PC-3 Cells

“…Therefore, we added zinc ions to the nanosystem hoping that its occupation will improve the stability of black phosphorus. In addition, in our previous studies, it was con rmed that an increase in zinc ion levels has a killing effect on prostate cancer cells [27] . However, the underlying killing mechanism is not clear.…”

Multivalent Aptamer Approach: Designs, Strategies, and Applications

“…Based on their structures, multivalent aptamers can be generally divided into three categories: spherical [23,24], single-layer [25,26], and linear [27,28] (shown in Figure 1); other varieties of structures are also shown in Figure 1, and they are discussed in Section 2. 4.…”

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Zinc Matrix Biodegradable Composites Reinforced by Graphene

“…Compared with nondegradable metals such as iron and titanium, zinc exhibits a better degradation rate in the body (Arjmand et al, 2019). In addition, zinc can promote the growth of bone tissue and play an important role in the process of bone mineralization and bone formation, and zinc also participates in a large number of physiological reactions of the human body, including cell development, gene expression, the immune system, and the nervous system (Gao et al, 2020;Qu et al, 2020;Racca et al, 2020).…”