Abstract:
Objective: To address the inherent limitations of conventional chemotherapeutic agents, including low drug loading efficiency and a lack of light-controllable cytotoxicity, we developed a self-delivering, dual-functional nanodrug of CQ-GA-Fe NPs integrating chemodynamic therapy(CDT) and photodynamic therapy(PDT), assembled via Fe
2+-mediated coordination using phosphorylated glycyrrhetinic acid(GA-P) as the ligand and phosphorylated carbazole-quinoline hexanol(CQ-P) as the photosensitizer, and the platform was preliminarily evaluated for its potential in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Methods: Key intermediates were synthesized via nucleophilic substitution and condensation reactions. Subsequently, CQ-GA-Fe NPs were prepared through ion-coordination self-assembly and characterized using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(1H-NMR) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR). The pH-responsive drug release behavior was evaluated using dialysis method. The generation of hydroxyl radicals(·OH) and singlet oxygen(
1O
2) was detected by methyl violet degradation and ABDA probe, respectively. Hemolysis assay was performed to evaluate its hemocompatibility. Cell counting kit-8(CCK-8) assay was used to detect its cytotoxicity against HepG2 and L02 cells and DCFH-DA fluorescent probe was adopted to measure the levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species(ROS).
Results: The as-prepared CQ-GA-Fe NPs exhibited an average particle size of(202.0±1.6) nm, an average polydispersity index(PDI) of(0.130±0.029), and an average zeta potential of(-23.93±0.23) mV. In addition, they demonstrated pH-responsive drug release behavior. Within 96 h, their average cumulative release rate at pH 6.8 reached(53.90%±3.14%), which was markedly higher than that at pH 7.4(37.98%±0.90%). Furthermore, CQ-GA-Fe NPs could generate
1O
2 and ·OH.
In vitro experiments revealed that CQ-GA-Fe NPs exhibited negligible cytotoxicity toward normal L02 hepatocytes but exerted selective cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells through a strong synergistic effect of CDT and PDT(combination index CI<0.16), with an IC
50 value of 12.46 μg/mL.
Conclusion: The constructed CQ-GA-Fe NPs demonstrate excellent biocompatibility and light-controlled selective cytotoxicity against hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Through the strong synergistic effect of CDT and PDT, the constructed CQ-GA-Fe NPs induce intracellular ROS accumulation in the hepatocellular carcinoma cells and exert anti-tumor effects via oxidative stress, thus providing experimental evidence and theoretical references for multimodal synergistic therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma.