Chemotherapy is currently one of the most widely used cancer treatments, but there are still some key problems that need to be solved urgently, such as serious side effects, drug resistance, and secondary metastasis. In order to solve these problems, researcher Qu Xiaogang, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, designed a DNAzyme-coated bimetallic organic framework (MOF) and used it to synergistically trigger the in situ synthesis of cancer chemotherapy drugs and DNAzyme-based gene therapy .


Key points of this article:
(1) Once MOFs enter cancer cells, they will decompose in the acidic environment of lysosomes to release copper ions, zinc ions and DNAzyme. On the one hand, after being reduced to CuI, copper ions can catalyze the synthesis of chemotherapeutic drugs through the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction (CuAAC); on the other hand, zinc ions can act as a cofactor to activate the cleavage activity of DNAzyme. Since this anti-cancer chemotherapeutic drug is synthesized in cells, it can kill cancer cells "on the spot", thereby minimizing side effects on normal biological tissues.




(2) At the same time, the activated DNAzyme can initiate gene therapy to inhibit tumor proliferation and metastasis by targeting and cutting oncogene substrates. In summary, this dual-function system also provides an effective control and synergy strategy for achieving more efficient cancer treatment.


references
Zhao Wang. et al. A Bimetallic Metal-Organic Framework Encapsulated with DNAzyme for Intracellular Drug Synthesis and Self-Sufficient Gene Therapy. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2021
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202016442
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202016442