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Mitochondria play critical roles in the regulation of the proliferation and apoptosis of cancerous cells. Targeted induction of mitochondrial dysfunction in cancer cells by multifunctional nanosystems for cancer treatment has attracted increasing attention in the past few years. Numerous therapeutic nanosystems have been designed for precise tumor therapy by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction, including reducing adenosine triphosphate, breaking redox homeostasis, inhibiting glycolysis, regulating proteins, membrane potential depolarization, mtDNA damage, mitophagy dysregulation and so on. Understanding the mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction would be helpful for efficient treatment of diseases and accelerating the translation of these therapeutic strategies into the clinic. Then, various strategies to construct mitochondria-targeted nanosystems and induce mitochondrial dysfunction are summarized, and the recent research progress regarding precise tumor therapeutics is highlighted. Finally, the major challenges and an outlook in this rapidly developing field are discussed. This review is expected to inspire further development of novel mitochondrial dysfunction-based strategies for precise treatments of cancer and other human diseases.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been widely studied as a photocatalyst for the splitting of water to produce hydrogen. In order to solve the problems of limited number of active sites and serious recombination rate of charge-carriers, noble metals are needed as cocatalysts. Here, we selectively anchored Pt nanoparticles (NPs) to specific nitrogen species on the surface of g-C3N4 via heat treatment in argon–hydrogen gas mixture, thus achieving g-C3N4 photocatalyst anchored by highly dispersed homogeneous Pt NPs with the co-existed metallic Pt0 and Pt2+ species. The synergistic effect of highly dispersed metallic Pt0 and Pt2+ species makes the catalyst exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance. Under the full-spectrum solar light irradiation, the photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of the photocatalyst is up to 18.67 mmol·g−1·h−1, which is 5.1 times of the catalyst prepared by non-selective deposition of Pt NPs.

The introduction of carbon materials in photocatalytic systems can significantly enhance the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity. Here, we proposed and fabricated carbon nanodots/Znln2S4 (CDs/ZIS) samples via three methods. The morphology, chemical elements and valence, and photoelectric properties of CDs/ZIS samples were systematically characterized by SEM, TEM, XPS, UV and PL. The photocatalytic H2 production experiments indicate that the photocatalytic performance of all CDs/ZIS samples has been significantly improved, which could be attributed to the fact that serving as an excellent electron acceptor, CDs can accelerate the separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes. The samples prepared via one-pot hydrothermal method exhibit the optimal photocatalytic activity and the corresponding H2 production rate of 4.15 mmol g−1.h−1 under visible light irradiation (λ>420 nm), which is about 2.92 times higher than pure ZIS. Our work presented the influence of synthetic method on photoelectric performance and photocatalytic activity of CDs/ZIS nanocomposites, and provided a reliable idea for improving the photocatalytic performance of photocatalyst toward practical applications.

One of the main challenges for tumor vascular infarction in combating cancer lies in failing to produce sustained complete thrombosis. Inspired by the capability of vascular infarction in blocking the delivery of oxygen to aggravate tumor hypoxia, we herein present the performance of selective tumor thrombus inducing hypoxia activation therapy to improve the therapeutic index of coagulation-based tumor therapy. By encapsulating coagulation-inducing protease thrombin and a hypoxia-activated prodrug (HAP) tirapazamine into metal-organic framework nanoparticles with a tumor-homing ligand, the obtained nanoplatform selectively activates the platelet aggregation at tumor to induce the thrombosis and vascular obstruction therapy by the exposed thrombin. Meanwhile, the thrombus can cut off the blood oxygen supply and potentiate the hypoxia levels to enhance the HAP therapy. This strategy not only addresses the dissatisfaction of vascular therapy, but also conquers the dilemma of inadequate hypoxia in the HAP treatment. Since clinical operations such as surgery can be used to induce the coagulation, the coagulation based synergistic therapy is promising to be translated into a clinical combination regimen. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) National Research Foundation (NRF) Submitted/Accepted version This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21778020, 31750110464, and 31950410755), the Sci-Tech Innovation Foundation of Huazhong Agricultural University (2662018PY024), the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFD0500706), and the Science and Technology Major Project of Guangxi (Gui Ke AA18118046). This work was also supported by the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) AME IRG grant (A20E5c0081), and the Singapore National Research Foundation Investigatorship (NRF-NRFI2018-03).

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) destroys cancer cells by converting H2O2 or O2 into reactive oxygen species (ROS), but its therapeutic efficacy is restricted by the antioxidant capacity of tumor. Previous solutions focused on strengthening the nanodrugs with the ability to increase ROS production or weaken the antioxidant capacity of cancer cells. Conversely, we here develop a mild nanodrug with negligible side effects. Specifically, the Au@Pt nanozyme decorated on a bacterial surface (Bac-Au@Pt) is reported to achieve precise CDT. Due to the tumor targeting ability of bacteria and catalytic property of Au@Pt nanozyme under acidic conditions, this nanosystem can release ROS to tumor cells effectively. In addition, the interferon gamma released by T cells specifically decreases the intracellular reductants in tumor cells, while having no obvious effect on normal cells. Therefore, a low dose of Bac-Au@Pt achieves a satisfactory therapeutic efficacy to tumor cells and is nontoxic to normal cells even at their acidic components. This nanosystem enables CDT and immunotherapy to mutually benefit and improve by each other, providing a promising strategy to achieve high anticancer efficacy even with a low dose usage. National Research Foundation (NRF) This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21778020 and 31950410755), the Sci-Tech Innovation Foundation of Huazhong Agricultural University (2662018PY024), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2662015QD026), and the Science and Technology Major Project of Guangxi (Gui Ke AA18118046). This work is also supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation Investigatorship (NRF-NRFI2018-03).

Summary Currently, patients receiving cancer treatments routinely suffer from distressing toxic effects, most originating from premature drug leakage, poor biocompatibility, and off-targeting. For tackling this challenge, we construct an intracellular Ca2+ cascade for tumor therapy via photothermal activation of TRPV1 channels. The nanoplatform creates an artificial calcium overloading stress in specific tumor cells, which is responsible for efficient cell death. Notably, this efficient treatment is activated by mild acidity and TRPV1 channels simultaneously, which contributes to precise tumor therapy and is not limited to hypoxic tumor. In addition, Ca2+ possesses inherent unique biological effect and normal cells are more tolerant of the undesirable destructive influence than tumor cells. The Ca2+ overload leads to cell death due to mitochondrial dysfunction (upregulation of Caspase-3, cytochrome c, and downregulation of Bcl-2 and ATP), and in vivo, the released photothermal CuS nanoparticles allow an enhanced 3D photoacoustic imaging and provide instant diagnosis.

Photocatalytic conversion of CO2 to solar fuels is considered an alternative approach for simultaneously mitigating the greenhouse effect and solving energy shortage. The efficient light harvesting and the thermochemical conversion have been demanding quests in photocatalysis due to the relatively low solar energy utilization efficiency. In this work, oxygen vacancies are induced in MoO3 for improving photo-thermal CO2 reduction efficiency by capturing near-infrared (NIR) photons. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of MoO3−x triggered by oxygen vacancies enables the efficient capture of NIR photons. Additionally, oxygen vacancies can promote the carrier separation, improve CO2 adsorption on the defective surface and lower the barrier of CO2 hydrogenation during the conversion process. As a result, MoO3−x displayed dramatically enhanced photo-thermal synergistic CO2 reduction under simulated sunlight (UV-Vis-IR) irradiation than MoO3. The amount of CO produced by MoO3−x can reach 10.3 μmol g−1 h−1, which is 20 times higher than that of MoO3 (0.52 μmol g−1 h−1). And the CH4 production of MoO3−x can reach 2.08 μmol g−1 h−1, which is 52 times higher than that of MoO3 (0.04 μmol g−1 h−1). In situ FT-IR and theoretical calculations also proved the enhanced activity of MoO3−x. This work highlights the significance of defect engineering for improving the photo-thermal catalytic conversion of CO2.

The strategy that combines photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) is widely used to achieve strong antitumor efficiency. Since light in the NIR-II window possesses ideal penetration ability, developing NIR-II PTT and NIR-II light triggered photosensitizer release for combined PDT and PTT is very promising in nanomedicine. Methods: We develop a novel nanocarrier (termed AuHNRs-DTPP) by conjugating photosensitizer contained chimeric peptide (DTPP) to Au hollow nanorods (AuHNRs). AuHNRs was obtained by a Te-templated method with the assistance of L-cysteine. The chimeric peptide PpIX-PEG8-GGK(TPP)GRDEVDGC (DTPP) was obtained through a solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) method. Results: Under the 1064 nm laser irradiation, the nanocarrier can accumulate heat quickly for efficient PTT, and then release activated photosensitizer for real-time apoptosis imaging. Thereafter, supplementary PDT can be conducted to kill tumor cells survived from the PTT, and meanwhile the normal tissue can be protected from photo-toxicity. Conclusion: This designed AuHNRs-DTPP nanocarrier with remarkable therapy effect, real-time apoptosis imaging ability and reduced skin damage is of great potential in nanomedicine application.

Ferroptosis, a newfound non-apoptotic cell death pathway that is iron- and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent, has shown a promise for tumor treatment. However, engineering ferroptosis inducers with sufficient hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and iron supplying capacity remains a great challenge. To address this issue, herein, we report a powerful nanoreactor by modifying MnO2, glucose oxidase, and polyethylene glycol on iron-based metal-organic framework nanoparticles for disrupting redox and iron metabolism homeostasis, directly providing the Fenton reaction-independent downstream ferroptosis for tumor therapy. By consuming glutathione and oxidizing glucose to increase the H2O2 level in cancer cells and downregulating ferroportin 1 to accumulate intracellular iron ions, the homeostasis disruptor could effectively enhance the ferroptosis. Subsequently, the ferroptosis cells release tumor immune-associated antigens, which combine with in situ injected aptamer-PD-L1 to further strengthen the tumor treatment efficiency. This work not only paves a way to enhance the efficacy of ferroptosis-based cancer therapy by associating intracellular redox homeostasis with the iron metabolism system in tumor cells but also offers an engineered nanoreactor as a promising mimetic antigen for activating immunotherapy. This work was supported by the National Key R & D Program of China (2021YFD1400800), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21778020 and 21804046).

The development of low cost, metal free semiconductor photocatalysts for CO2 reduction to fuels and valuable chemical feedstocks is a practically imperative for reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In this work, black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) were successfully dispersed on a graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) support via a simple electrostatic attraction approach, and the activities of BP@g-C3N4 composites were evaluated for photocatalytic CO2 reduction. The BP@g-C3N4 composites displayed improved carrier separation efficiency and higher activities for photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO (6.54 µmol g−1 h−1 at the optimum BPQDs loading of 1 wt%) compared with pure g-C3N4 (2.65 µmol g−1 h−1) . This work thus identifies a novel approach towards metal free photocatalysts for CO2 photoreduction.

Higher reaction temperature can induce the better solar catalytic hydrogen (H 2 ) production performance on noble-metal loaded photocatalyst. Here, the thermal effect generated by the infrared light was used to enhance the solar catalytic hydrogen production from methanol-water solution. The light to hydrogen (LTH) conversion efficiency of Pt/TiO 2 reached to 0.36% under full spectrum light source. The results indicated that infrared part of solar light can be utilized as thermal source to enhance the photocatalytic hydrogen generation.

Summary Currently, patients receiving cancer treatments routinely suffer from distressing toxic effects, most originating from premature drug leakage, poor biocompatibility, and off-targeting. For tackling this challenge, we construct an intracellular Ca2+ cascade for tumor therapy via photothermal activation of TRPV1 channels. The nanoplatform creates an artificial calcium overloading stress in specific tumor cells, which is responsible for efficient cell death. Notably, this efficient treatment is activated by mild acidity and TRPV1 channels simultaneously, which contributes to precise tumor therapy and is not limited to hypoxic tumor. In addition, Ca2+ possesses inherent unique biological effect and normal cells are more tolerant of the undesirable destructive influence than tumor cells. The Ca2+ overload leads to cell death due to mitochondrial dysfunction (upregulation of Caspase-3, cytochrome c, and downregulation of Bcl-2 and ATP), and in vivo, the released photothermal CuS nanoparticles allow an enhanced 3D photoacoustic imaging and provide instant diagnosis., Graphical Abstract, Highlights • The Ca2+ cascade is selectively constructed in vivo without being limited to hypoxic tumor • Ca2+ overload leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and cancer death • The released CuS NPs provide an enhanced 3D photoacoustic imaging • Ca2+-interference therapy avoids the obstacles of traditional treatment, Medical Imaging; Nanoparticles; Cancer

In this paper, transition metal phosphide (TMP) was used as cocatalyst to enhance the photocatalytic activity of Cd0.5Zn0.5S solid solution for nitrogen fixation under visible light irradiation. The Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic data showed that Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S had higher activity than pure Cd0.5Zn0.5S for photocatalytic dinitrogen (N2) fixation in the absence of any scavengers. After 1 h visible light irradiation (λ > 400 nm), the concentration of NH3 reached to 101.5 μmol L−1. And the quantum efficiency at 420 nm monochromatic light reached 4.32%, which much higher than other semiconductors. Time-resolved PL spectra, photocurrent and electrochemical impedance (EIS) spectroscopy revealed that higher photo-induced carrier separation efficiency of Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S. This work introduced Cd0.5Zn0.5S solid solution photocatalyst to reduce nitrogen, and offered a greenly, economically and efficiently way for nitrogen fixation.

Despite the great success in clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Gd3+ -based contrast agents still suffer from low proton relaxation efficiency, rapid metabolic clearance as well as poor sensitivity. In this work, we designed a matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) responsive chimeric peptide for dual-stage-amplified MRI and precise photodynamic therapy . Both in vitro and in vivo studies indicated that this chimeric peptide could self-assembly into spherical nanoparticles at physiological condition with r 1 value of 28.17 mM−1s−1. Meanwhile, the spherical shape endowed chimeric peptide with efficient tumor accumulation via enhanced penetration and retention (EPR) effect. Importantly, the overexpressed MMP-2 in tumor region could specifically hydrolyze chimeric peptide, leading to sphere-to-fiber transformation. This transformation enhanced both the tumor accumulation and the relaxivity of contrast agent. Consequently, the r 1 value was remarkably elevated to 51.52 mM−1s−1, which guided precise photodynamic therapy. This tumor microenvironment-triggered transformable strategy should show great potential for tumor-targeted imaging and phototherapy.

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution is an attractive technology to address the increasing energy crisis. The development of advanced photocatalysts presents an attractive but challenging issue. For the first time, we anchored inorganic ReS2 via a facial hydrothermal route as co-catalyst to CdS nanorods for highly efficient H2 evolution. CdS/ReS2 composite photocatalyst containing 1 wt% of ReS2 co-catalyst exhibits the highest photocatalytic H2 evolution rates of 24.36 and 137.5 mmol h−1 g−1 using Na2S-Na2SO3 and lactic acid as sacrificial reagents, respectively, corresponding to 127 and 8.8 fold enhancements, respectively, compared with bare CdS. The photocatalytic enhancement mechanism was elucidated by experimental means and theoretical calculations. The source of hydrogen and the fate of the sacrifice reagents were studied by in situ Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and on-line mass spectrometry. Our results showed that ReS2 is a promising co-catalyst to achieve high photocatalytic hydrogen production from water under visible light irradiation.