Hyaluronic acid-functionalized ruthenium photothermal nanoenzyme for enhancing osteosarcoma chemotherapy: Cascade targeting and bidirectional modulation of drug resistance

Insufficient drug delivery efficiency in vivo and robust drug resistance are two major factors to induce suboptimal efficacy in chemotherapy of osteosarcoma (OS). To address these challenges, we developed polysaccharide hyaluronic acid (HA)-functionalized ruthenium nanoaggregates (Ru NAs) to enhance the chemotherapy of doxorubicin (DOX) for OS. These NAs, comprising Ru nanoparticles (NPs) and alendronate-modified HA (HA-ALN), effectively load DOX, resulting in DOX@Ru-HA-ALN NAs. The combination of HA and ALN in NAs ensures outstanding cascade targeting towards tumor-invaded bone tissues and CD44-overexpressing tumor cells, maximizing therapeutic efficacy while minimizing off-target effects. Concurrently, the Ru NPs in NAs function as “smart” photoenzymatic agent to not only in situ relieve hypoxia of OS via the catalysis of overexpressed H₂O₂ to produce O₂, but also generate mild photothermal effect under 808-nm laser irradiation. They can bidirectionally overcome drug resistance of DOX via downregulation of resistance-related factors including multi-drug resistant associate protein, P-glycoprotein, heat shock factor 1, etc. The integration of cascade targeting with bidirectional modulation of drug resistance positions Ru-HA-ALN NAs to substantially enhance DOX chemotherapy for OS. Therefore, the present work highlights the potential of polysaccharide-functionalized nanomaterials in advancing tumor chemotherapy by addressing challenges of both delivery efficiency and drug resistance.