A self-supplying H2O2 “nano-reaction engine” with photothermal boosting for cascade chemodynamic–immunotherapy

TL;DR

This paper introduces a nanoplatform that boosts cancer therapy by generating hydrogen peroxide and using heat to enhance immune responses.

Contribution

A self-supplying H2O2 nanoplatform with a photothermal booster for enhanced chemodynamic and immunotherapy.

Findings

The CZPI platform generates H2O2 and Cu2+ ions in the tumor microenvironment.

Photothermal boosting accelerates reactions and induces multiple cell death types.

The system activates systemic anti-tumor immune responses.

Abstract

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) involves conversion of endogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into highly toxic hydroxyl radicals (•OH) for effective tumor ablation. However, the therapeutic efficacy of CDT is severely limited by the insufficient H2O2 levels and excessive glutathione (GSH) within the tumor microenvironment, which collectively establish a redox-protective state that resists oxidative stress. To overcome these intrinsic barriers, we developed a self-supplying H2O2 nanoplatform (CZPI) that enables synergistically enhanced tumor immunotherapy. The CZPI platform features a Cu-ZnO2 core nanostructure as a “reaction engine”, and utilizes sequential surface modification by oxidative self-polymerization of polydopamine (PDA) and π–π stacking of indocyanine green (ICG) to introduce a high-efficiency photothermal “booster.” In the weakly acidic TME, ZnO2 undergoes acid-triggered decomposition to release H2O2 and Cu2+ ions. The latter react with intracellular GSH to generate Cu + ions, which catalyze the Fenton-like decomposition of H2O2 to continuously produce •OH while regenerating Cu2+ for redox cycling. Furthermore, the synergistic photothermal effect of PDA and ICG increases local temperature in response to near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, thereby accelerating reaction kinetics and amplifying the cascade reaction. This photothermal-chemodynamic action of CZPI induces multiple forms of programmed cell death – including apoptosis, ferroptosis, and immunogenic cell death (ICD) – which subsequently activate systemic anti-tumor immune responses. Overall, this study presents a novel “reaction engine-booster” paradigm that integrates self-supplying H2O2 generation with photothermal acceleration, offering a powerful platform for multimodal synergistic cancer therapy and durable immune activation.

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