Glutathione‐Depleted Photodynamic Nanoadjuvant for Triggering Nonferrous Ferroptosis to Amplify Radiotherapy of Breast Cancer
Jiangnan Shi, Guoqing Cui, Yaqi Jin, Bobin Mi, Kenan Liu, Linqian Zhao, Kewang Bao, Ziyao Lu, Jie Liu, Yuwei Wang, Hui He, Zhengqing Guo
Abstract
Radiotherapy plays a crucial role in the treatment of advanced breast cancer, but the increased antioxidant system, especially the rise in glutathione (GSH), presents a significant obstacle to its effectiveness. To address this challenge, a versatile GSH-depleted photodynamic nanoadjuvant is developed to augment the efficacy of radiotherapy for breast cancer treatment. This nanoadjuvant operates within the tumor microenvironment to effectively deplete intracellular GSH through a sequence of cascaded processes, including GSH exhaustion, biosynthetic inhibition, and photodynamic oxidation. This leads to a notable accumulation of lipid peroxides (LPO) and subsequent suppression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) activity. Consequently, the combined GSH depletion induced by the nanoadjuvant markedly promotes nonferrous ferroptosis, thereby contributing to the augmentation of antitumor efficiency during radiotherapy in breast cancer. This work presents an innovative approach to designing and synthesizing biocompatible nanoadjuvants with the goal of improving the efficacy of radiotherapy for breast cancer in prospective clinical scenarios.