Doxorubicin-loaded hydrogen peroxide self-providing copper nanodots for combination of chemotherapy and acid-induced chemodynamic therapy against breast cancer

In recent years, chemodynamic therapy (CDT) has gained increasing interest in cancer treatment. In contrast to photodynamic therapy and sonodynamic therapy, extrinsic excitations such as laser or ultrasound are not required in CDT. As a result, the CDT performance is not limited by the penetration depth of the external irritation. However, CDT relies heavily on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the tumour microenvironment (TME). Insufficient H2O2 in the TME limits the CDT performance, and the most reported methods to produce H2O2 in the TME are dependent on oxygen supply, which is restricted by the hypoxic TME. In this study, H2O2 self-providing copper nanodots were proposed, and the drug doxorubicin (DOX) was successfully loaded to construct DOX-nanodots. Our results showed that the nanodots produced H2O2 in the weakly acidic TME due to the peroxo group and further generated the most active hydroxyl radical (OH) through the Fenton-like reaction. This process was pH-dependent and did not occur in a neutral environment. In addition to OH, the nanodots also produced singlet oxygen (1O2) and superoxide anions (O2–) in the cancer cells. The copper nanodots performed promising CDT against breast cancer in vitro and in vivo, with enhanced cell apoptosis and decreased cell proliferation. The combination of chemotherapy and CDT using DOX-nanodots further improved the therapeutic effects. The treatments showed good biocompatibility with no obvious toxicity in major tissues, possibly due to the specific OH generation in the weakly acidic TME. In summary, the H2O2 self-providing copper nanodots in combination with DOX showed promising cancer-curing effects due to the oxygen-independent and tumour-specific production of reactive oxygen species and the cooperation of chemotherapy.