Phototherapeutic efficacy and cell death pathways of atomically precise chiral Au25 nanoclusters in tumor therapy

IF 7.7 2区材料科学 Q1 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Science China Materials Pub Date : 2026-07-28 DOI:10.1007/s40843-026-4177-3

Ai Liu (, ), Jiazhu Zheng (, ), Ziyan Zhao (, ), Yiming Wang (, ), Yan Sun (, ), Afang Dai (, ), Zunfu Hu (, ), Yunqiang Sun (, ), Zibao Gan (, ), Xiuwen Zheng (, )

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Chirality is a ubiquitous structural feature that profoundly affects the efficacy of tumor therapy by regulating key physiological processes. However, the link between chirality and the therapeutic properties of metal nanomaterials, particularly atomically precise metal nanoclusters (NCs), remains poorly understood. Herein, atomically precise Au₂₅ NCs protected by chiral cysteine (cys) ligands (L-Au₂₅(cys)₁₈, D-Au₂₅(cys)₁₈, and Rac-Au₂₅(cys)₁₈) were constructed and systematically investigated to elucidate the association between chirality and their tumor therapeutic performance. Although no significant difference in enzyme-like activity was observed among the three NCs, Rac-Au₂₅(cys)₁₈ exhibited enhanced reactive oxygen species generation capacity under 808 nm laser irradiation, achieving superior phototherapeutic effects in both in vitro and in vivo tumor models. The chiral Au₂₅ NCs induced distinct cell death pathways: L-Au₂₅(cys)₁₈ primarily triggered ferroptosis, D-Au₂₅(cys)₁₈ induced both ferroptosis and apoptosis, and all three NCs activated disulfidptosis. This work clarifies the correlation between chiral structures and the tumor therapeutic performance of gold NCs, providing experimental insights and theoretical support for the design of novel chiral nanomaterials and the optimization of precise tumor phototherapeutic strategies.

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原子精确手性Au25纳米团簇在肿瘤治疗中的光疗效果和细胞死亡途径

手性是一种普遍存在的结构特征，通过调节关键的生理过程，深刻影响肿瘤治疗的疗效。然而，手性与金属纳米材料的治疗特性之间的联系，特别是原子精确的金属纳米团簇（NCs），仍然知之甚少。本文构建了由手性半胱氨酸（cys）配体(L-Au25(cys)18、D-Au25（cys)18和Rac-Au25(cys)18）保护的原子精确的Au25 nc，并对其进行了系统研究，以阐明手性与它们的肿瘤治疗性能之间的关系。虽然三种NCs的类酶活性没有显著差异，但Rac-Au25(cys)18在808 nm激光照射下表现出增强的活性氧生成能力，在体外和体内肿瘤模型中均取得了较好的光疗效果。手性Au25 NCs诱导不同的细胞死亡途径：L-Au25(cys)18主要触发铁下垂，D-Au25(cys)18诱导铁下垂和细胞凋亡，三种NCs均激活二硫垂。本研究阐明了金纳米材料的手性结构与肿瘤治疗性能之间的关系，为新型手性纳米材料的设计和精确肿瘤光疗策略的优化提供了实验见解和理论支持。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Science China Materials Materials Science-General Materials Science

CiteScore

11.40

自引率

7.40%

发文量

949

期刊介绍： Science China Materials (SCM) is a globally peer-reviewed journal that covers all facets of materials science. It is supervised by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The journal is jointly published monthly in both printed and electronic forms by Science China Press and Springer. The aim of SCM is to encourage communication of high-quality, innovative research results at the cutting-edge interface of materials science with chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering. It focuses on breakthroughs from around the world and aims to become a world-leading academic journal for materials science.