Nucleus-targeted carbon dots as peroxidase nanozyme for photoacoustic imaging and phototherapy of tumor

Shanshan Liu; Jianfeng Wang; Xuemin Wang; Yimin Guo; Shaokang Guan; Tao Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.colsurfb.2024.113950

Nucleus-targeted carbon dots as peroxidase nanozyme for photoacoustic imaging and phototherapy of tumor

Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2024 May 7:239:113950. doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2024.113950. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Shanshan Liu¹, Jianfeng Wang², Xuemin Wang³, Yimin Guo⁴, Shaokang Guan⁵, Tao Zhang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Hebei Key Laboratory of Heterocyclic Compounds, Handan University, Handan 056005, China; Hebei Center for New Inorganic Optoelectronic Nanomaterial Research, Handan University, Handan 056005, China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China. Electronic address: jfwang316@zzu.edu.cn.
³ Center of Advanced Analysis and Gene Sequencing, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
⁵ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
⁶ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China. Electronic address: zhangtao@buaa.edu.cn.

PMID: 38744078
DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2024.113950

Abstract

High-purity carbon dots (CDs) with a highly π-conjugated sp²-hybridized graphite structure were prepared by the pulse electrolysis method using the graphite plate as raw material. Photoacoustic signal together with photothermal effect was found in the CDs-dispersed suspensions under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. For the suspension with the CDs concentration of 500 μg/mL, the photothermal conversion efficiency is high up 64.3% and the solution's temperature can be increased to 82.2 °C under NIR irradiation. Moreover, CDs can be effectively endocytosed by human hepatoma (HepG2) cells with a few hours, act as peroxidase nanozyme to decompose H₂O₂ and facilitate the production of reactive oxygen species. Under NIR irradiation, CDs exhibit an outstanding apoptosis-inducing effect on HepG2 cells by the photothermal effect. In addition, in vivo experiments show that CDs can be used in photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and guiding the tumor treatment. As a result, the nucleus-targeted CDs with an unique combination of PAI and photothermal effect have potential in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Keywords: Carbon dots; Nucleus-targeted; Peroxidase; Photoacoustic imaging; Photothermal effect.