Living Microalgae-Based Magnetic Microrobots for Calcium Overload and Photodynamic Synergetic Cancer Therapy.

Journal: Advanced healthcare materials
PMID:

Abstract

The combination of Ca overload and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production for cancer therapy offers a superior solution to the lack of specificity in traditional antitumor strategies. However, current therapeutic platforms for this strategy are primarily based on non-targeting nanomaterials, leading to undesirable off-target side effects. Additionally, resistance to ROS and apoptosis induced by the hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME) further limits therapeutic efficiency. Herein, a magnetic microrobot based on living Spirulina Platensis (SP), which is coated with a double layer of FeO nanoparticles (NPs) and CaCO NPs. The microrobots can accumulate in tumor regions under magnetic attraction, which produces a high-Ca environment under the acidic TME and facilitates Ca overload under ultrasound (US) stimulation. Meanwhile, sufficient oxygen (O) production by photosynthesis helps alleviate hypoxia and promotes in situ ROS production by chlorophyll-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT), which can coordinate with Ca overload to induce cell apoptosis. With these unique properties, the SP-based microrobots offer a promising microrobotics-based strategy for in situ Ca accumulation and ROS production, contributing to a precise and effective way for cancer treatment.

Authors

  • Shuai Jiang
    Department of Orthopaedics, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China.
  • Bo Hao
  • Xin Song
    State Key Laboratory of Esophageal Cancer Prevention & Treatment and Henan Key Laboratory for Esophageal Cancer Research of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China.
  • Yihang Jiang
    Biomedical Engineering Department, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
  • Junjia Guo
    Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, China.
  • Yuqiong Wang
    Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, China.
  • Qinglong Wang
    Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, China.
  • Xin Wang
    Key Laboratory of Bio-based Material Science & Technology (Northeast Forestry University), Ministry of Education, Harbin 150040, China.
  • Tiantian Xu
    Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Robotics and Intelligent System, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, People's Republic of China.
  • Xinyu Wu
    Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China.
  • Kai Fung Chan
    Chow Yuk Ho Technology Centre for Innovative Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
  • Philip Wai Yan Chiu
  • Li Zhang
    Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.