Ultrasound-propelled nanomotors for efficient cancer cell ferroptosis

Abstract

Ferroptosis is a non-apoptotic form of cell death that is dependent on the accumulation of intracellular iron that causes elevation of toxic lipid peroxides. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the levels of intracellular iron and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a short time. Here, we first propose ultrasound (US)-propelled Janus nanomotors (Au–FeO_x/PEI/ICG, AFPI NMs) to accelerate cellular internalization and induce cancer cell ferroptosis. This nanomotor consists of a gold–iron oxide rod-like Janus nanomotor (Au–FeO_x, AF NMs) and a photoactive indocyanine green (ICG) dye on the surface. It not only exhibits accelerating cellular internalization (∼4-fold) caused by its attractive US-driven propulsion but also shows good intracellular motion behavior. In addition, this Janus nanomotor shows excellent intracellular ROS generation performance due to the synergistic effect of the “Fenton or Fenton-like reaction” and the “photochemical reaction”. As a result, the killing efficiency of actively moving nanomotors on cancer cells is 88% higher than that of stationary nanomotors. Unlike previous passive strategies, this work is a significant step toward accelerating cellular internalization and inducing cancer-cell ferroptosis in an active way. These novel US-propelled Janus nanomotors with strong propulsion, efficient cellular internalization and excellent ROS generation are suitable as a novel cell biology research tool.