Water-soluble ferrous metallacage combined with oxaliplatin for a synergistic chemo/chemodynamic therapy

Abstract

We designed and synthesized a nanoplatform for chemotherapy (CT) combined with enhanced chemodynamic therapy (CDT). A self-assembly of FM@OXA-PEG was formed by a water-soluble and amphipathic ferrous metallacage (FM), hydrophilic copolymer (PEG2000-COOH) and oxaliplatin (OXA). The FM proved to be an excellent Fenton reaction catalyst and a potential CDT agent. OXA can not only act as an anti-tumor drug but also activate intracellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NOX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) to produce H₂O₂, enhancing the CDT effect and realizing synergistic CT and CDT. In vitro and in vivo experimental results showed that FM@OXA-PEG had almost no toxicity to normal cells but had obvious killing capacity for tumor cells and significantly inhibited the growth of tumors.