2. Academic Validation
  3. Intravesical delivery of mucoadhesive and tumor-selective-penetrating nanozymes for enhancing the PDT of bladder cancer

Intravesical delivery of mucoadhesive and tumor-selective-penetrating nanozymes for enhancing the PDT of bladder cancer

  • J Nanobiotechnology. 2025 Aug 6;23(1):554. doi: 10.1186/s12951-025-03594-6.
Yang Liu # 1 2,  Wentao Xu # 3,  Xiaowen Qin # 4 5,  Jiajia Zheng 3 6,  Bin Zheng 4,  Li Sun 4,  Wenyan Zuo 4,  Dingyi Liu 4,  Zhenghong Liu 4,  Yixuan Mou 4,  Heng Wang 4,  Qi Zhang 4,  Jun Chen 7,  Pu Zhang 8,  Dahong Zhang 9 10
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
  • 2 Cancer Center, Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital (Affiliated People's Hospital), Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
  • 3 Cancer Center, Department of Interventional Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital (Affiliated People's Hospital), Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
  • 4 Urology & Nephrology Center, Department of Urology, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital (Affiliated People's Hospital), Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
  • 5 Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, The National Key Discipline, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
  • 6 College of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
  • 7 Cancer Center, Department of Interventional Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital (Affiliated People's Hospital), Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. chenjun@hmc.edu.cn.
  • 8 Urology & Nephrology Center, Department of Urology, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital (Affiliated People's Hospital), Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. zhangpuxjtuer@163.com.
  • 9 Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. zppurology@163.com.
  • 10 Urology & Nephrology Center, Department of Urology, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital (Affiliated People's Hospital), Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. zppurology@163.com.
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 40770338 DOI: 10.1186/s12951-025-03594-6
Abstract

Intravesical photodynamic therapy (PDT) emerges as a promising modality for bladder Cancer treatment, yet its efficacy is often curtailed by weak muco-adhesion, poor muco-penetration, low tumor-targeting and intra-tumoral oxygen scarcity. In this work, we introduce a drug delivery system leveraging cerium oxide (CeO2) nanozymes as the core, polyarginine peptides R11 as the tumor-targeting ligands, and indocyanine green (ICG) as the photosensitizers, with the latter two components assembled on the particle surface. Intravesical ICG@R11-CeO2 nanoparticles displayed enhanced mucoadhesive, mucus-penetrating and tumor-targeting properties, and effectively mitigated the hypoxia threat in the tumor microenvironment to improve the PDT sensitivity. Remarkably, the intravesical PDT via ICG@R11-CeO2 nanoparticles achieved complete tumor inhibition in orthotopic bladder Cancer models, offering strong evidence on its clinical translational potential.

Keywords

Bladder Cancer; Intravesical therapy; Nanozyme; Photodynamic therapy.

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