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Research Article

Peptidomimetic-liganded gold nanoclusters for controlled iron delivery and synergistic suppression of tumor growth

Xiqi Ma1,§Duo Cai2,§Zhixiong Zhang1Qi Dai1Xinyu Li1Biao Yu1Baosheng Ge1Shihai Liu2( )Xiaojuan Wang1( )Fang Huang1( )
College of Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Medical Animal Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266500, China

§ Xiqi Ma and Duo Cai contributed equally to this work.

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Graphical Abstract

GPx-1 inhibition and ferroptosis acceleration have been achieved simultaneously by controlled iron delivery with peptidomimetic-liganded gold nanoclusters.

Abstract

A novel peptidomimetic-liganded gold nanocluster (CDp-AuNC) is proposed for the synergistic suppression of tumor growth. Taking advantages of the multi-capabilities offered by the surface ligands, including iron chelation, glutathione peroxidases-1 (GPx-1) binding, and tumor cells recognition, CDp-AuNCs are able to function as the nanocarriers to deliver iron in a controlled manner for the ferroptosis therapy and as the inhibitors for GPx-1 to induce the apoptosis of tumor cells. The Fe2+@CDp-AuNC nanocomplexes are fabricated through a facile self-assembly method. The experimental data verify that the nanocomplexes are internalized specifically by tumor cells with high efficiency. The acidic microenvironment in endosomes triggers the collapse of the nanocomplexes and thereby releases Fe2+ to induce ferroptosis and CDp-AuNCs to inhibit the enzyme activity of GPx-1. Benefiting from the H2O2-depleted pathway inhibition and ferroptosis acceleration, the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level could be enhanced significantly. As a consequence, the apoptosis/ferroptosis of 4T1 cells as well as the tumor elimination in vivo are observed after treatment with the Fe2+@CDp-AuNC nanocomplexes at a relatively low dose. The facile iron loading method, simple construction procedure, and outstanding tumor suppression performance, provide CDp-AuNCs great application promise. More importantly, the strategy of peptidomimetic ligands design provides a transferable approach to building multifunctional nanomaterials.

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Nano Research
Pages 12066-12075
Cite this article:
Ma X, Cai D, Zhang Z, et al. Peptidomimetic-liganded gold nanoclusters for controlled iron delivery and synergistic suppression of tumor growth. Nano Research, 2023, 16(10): 12066-12075. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5103-y
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Received: 28 July 2022
Revised: 24 September 2022
Accepted: 26 September 2022
Published: 30 November 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2022
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