Metal-free polymer nano-photosensitizer actuates ferroptosis in starved cancer

The microenvironment in solid tumors drives the fate of cancer cells to ferroptosis, yet the underlying mechanism remains incompletely understood. Herein, we report a metal-free polymer photosensitizer (BDPB) as a new type ferroptosis inducer of starved cancer cells. The polymer consists of boron difluoride dipyrromethene dye as the photosensitizing unit and diisopropyl-ethyl amine as the electron-donating unit. Ultrafast spectroscopy and electron spin resonance mechanistically revealed the prolonged charge-separation process in BDPB, enabling complex-I like one-electron transfer effect to produce O2●-. Unexpectedly, the O2●--generating BDPB nanoparticles (NPs) served to deactivate the AMPK-mTOR signaling pathway in normal-state cancer cells to initiate cell repair activity and survive low-dose phototherapy. However, for cancer cells in a starved state, BDPB NPs triggered glutathione peroxidase 4 downregulation, lipid peroxides accumulation, and death to cancer cells, which was identified as ferroptosis but not apoptosis, necroptosis, or autosis. The application of BDPB NPs sheds new light on the design of individualized ferroptosis inducers for combating cancer progression.