Unravelling the cell death mechanism triggered by catalytic copper-iron nanoparticles and .

Nanomedicine has developed an impressive array of anticancer devices, from drug delivery vectors to hyperthermia-enabling nanoparticles. Lately, emphasis has been shifted to the tumour microenvironment (TME) and to active nanomaterials adapted to the prevailing conditions. Among them, catalytic nanomaterials (also called nanocatalysts) represent a highly interesting alternative, especially when they are able to target metabolites that are present to a greater extent in tumoral cells, opening a window for a catalytically selective action.

2D versus 3D tumor-on-chip models to study the impact of tumor organization on metabolic patterns in vitro.

Despite the limitations of in vitro models to investigate cancer cell metabolism, their study can provide new insights essential for understanding tumorigenesis and effectively aiding in the development of novel therapies. The innovative tumor-on-chip models offer a more physiologically relevant platform than the traditional 2D cultures. These 3D cultures incorporate cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, as well as diffusion dynamics through both the matrix and tumor spheroid, modeling in vivo diffusion within the tumor.

Microwave and Polymer-Assisted Synthesis of Ultrasmall Polydopamine Nanoparticles: Applications as Support for Peroxidase-like Activity and as Intracellular Iron Delivery Platform.

Tuning the size of nanomaterials is a critical factor to consider when designing and optimizing their applications. In this context, polydopamine nanoparticles have demonstrated potential across a wide range of biomedical applications (Battaglini, M.; Emanet, M.

A Highly-Active Chemodynamic Agent Based on In Situ Generated Copper Complexes from Copper Hexacyanoferrate Nanoparticles.

Copper hexacyanoferrate (CuFe(CN)) nanocubes with a homogeneous size under 100 nm are synthesized by self-assembly from Cu and Fe(CN) precursors. Similar to previous reports with catalysts containing Cu and Fe, the objective is to produce a nanoparticle catalyst that can promote glutathione (GSH) oxidation thanks to the Cu contribution, plus some ROS production through Fenton-like processes fostered by Fe. Unexpectedly, the catalytic activity for GSH oxidation are much higher (≈50%) than those obtained with equal Cu amounts provided as CuCl.

Small Molecule RNA Degraders.

RNA is a central molecule in life, involved in a plethora of biological processes and playing a key role in many diseases. Targeting RNA emerges as a significant endeavor in drug discovery, diverging from conventional protein-centric approaches to tackle various pathologies. Whilst identifying small molecules that bind to specific RNA regions is the first step, the abundance of non-functional RNA segments renders many interactions biologically inert.

Nanomedicine Targeting Cuproplasia in Cancer: Labile Copper Sequestration Using Polydopamine Particles Blocks Tumor Growth through Altering Metabolism and Redox Homeostasis.

Copper plays critical roles as a metal active site cofactor and metalloallosteric signal for enzymes involved in cell proliferation and metabolism, making it an attractive target for cancer therapy. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of polydopamine nanoparticles (PDA NPs), classically applied for metal removal from water, as a therapeutic strategy for depleting intracellular labile copper pools in triple-negative breast cancer models through the metal-chelating groups present on the PDA surface. By using the activity-based sensing probe FCP-1, we could track the PDA-induced labile copper depletion while leaving total copper levels unchanged and link it to the selective MDA-MB-231 cell death.

Nanoparticle-Catalyzed Transamination under Tumor Microenvironment Conditions: A Novel Tool to Disrupt the Pool of Amino Acids and GSSG in Cancer Cells.

Catalytic cancer therapy targets cancer cells by exploiting the specific characteristics of the tumor microenvironment (TME). TME-based catalytic strategies rely on the use of molecules already present in the TME. Amino groups seem to be a suitable target, given the abundance of proteins and peptides in biological environments.

Platinum-based nanodendrites as glucose oxidase-mimicking surrogates.

Catalytic conversion of glucose represents an interesting field of research with multiple applications. From the biotechnology point of view, glucose conversion leads to the fabrication of different added-value by-products. In the field of nanocatalytic medicine, the reduction of glucose levels within the tumor microenvironment (TME) represents an appealing approach based on the starvation of cancer cells.

Heterogeneous-Driven Glutathione Oxidation: Defining the Catalytic Role of Chalcopyrite Nanoparticles.

Transition-metal nanocatalysis represents a novel alternative currently experiencing flourishing progress to tackle the tumor microenvironment (TME) in cancer therapy. These nanomaterials aim at attacking tumor cells using the intrinsic selectivity of inorganic catalysts. In addition, special attention to tune and control the release of these transition metals is also required.

Platinum nanoplatforms: classic catalysts claiming a prominent role in cancer therapy.

Platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs) have a well-established role as a classic heterogeneous catalyst. Also, Pt has traditionally been employed as a component of organometallic drug formulations for chemotherapy. However, a new role in cancer therapy is emerging thanks to its outstanding catalytic properties, enabling novel approaches that are surveyed in this review.

Unveiling the interplay between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic mechanisms in copper-iron nanoparticles working under chemically relevant tumour conditions.

The present work sheds light on a generally overlooked issue in the emerging field of bio-orthogonal catalysis within tumour microenvironments (TMEs): the interplay between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic processes. In most cases, previous works dealing with nanoparticle-based catalysis in the TME focus on the effects obtained ( tumour cell death) and attribute the results to heterogeneous processes alone. The specific mechanisms are rarely substantiated and, furthermore, the possibility of a significant contribution of homogeneous processes by leached species - and the complexes that they may form with biomolecules - is neither contemplated nor pursued.

Glutathione-Triggered catalytic response of Copper-Iron mixed oxide Nanoparticles. Leveraging tumor microenvironment conditions for chemodynamic therapy.

Heterogeneous catalysis has emerged as a promising alternative for the development of new cancer therapies. In addition, regarding the tumor microenvironment as a reactor with very specific chemical features has provided a new perspective in the search for catalytic nanoarchitectures with specific action against chemical species playing a key role in tumor metabolism. One of these species is glutathione (GSH), whose depletion is the cornerstone of emerging strategies in oncology, since this metabolite plays a pivotal regulatory role as antioxidant agent, dampening the harmful effects of intracellular reactive oxidative species (ROS).

Gold-Platinum Nanoparticles with Core-Shell Configuration as Efficient Oxidase-like Nanosensors for Glutathione Detection.

Nanozymes, defined as nanomaterials that can mimic the catalytic activity of natural enzymes, have been widely used to develop analytical tools for biosensing. In this regard, the monitoring of glutathione (GSH), a key antioxidant biomolecule intervening in the regulation of the oxidative stress level of cells or related with Parkinson's or mitochondrial diseases can be of great interest from the biomedical point of view. In this work, we have synthetized a gold-platinum Au@Pt nanoparticle with core-shell configuration exhibiting a remarkable oxidase-like mimicking activity towards the substrates 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and -phenylenediamine (OPD).