Cascade amplification of tumor chemodynamic therapy and starvation with re-educated TAMs via Fe-MOF based functional nanosystem

Tumor microenvironment is characterized by the high concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which is an effective key used to open the Pandora’s Box against cancer. Herein, a tumor-targeted nanosystem HFNP@GOX@PFC composed of ROS-cleaved Fe-based metal–organic framework, hyaluronic acid (HA), glucose oxidase (GOX) and perfluorohexane (PFC) has been developed for tumor cascade amplified starvation and chemodynamic therapy (CDT). In response to the high concentration of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) intratumorally, HFNP@GOX@PFC endocytosed by tumor cells can specially be disassembled and release GOX, PFC and Fe(2+), which can collectively starve tumor and self-produce additional H(2)O(2) via competitively glucose catalyzing, supply oxygen to continuous support GOX-mediated starvation therapy, initiate CDT and cascade amplify oxidative stress via Fe(2+)-mediated Fenton reaction, leading to the serious tumor damage with activated p53 signal pathway. Moreover, HFNP@GOX@PFC also significantly initiates antitumor immune response via re-educating tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) by activating NF-κB and MAPK signal pathways. In vitro and in vivo results collectively demonstrate that nanosystem not only continuously initiates starvation therapy, but also pronouncedly cascade-amplify CDT and polarize TAMs, consequently efficiently inhibiting tumor growth with good biosafety. The functional nanosystem combined the cascade amplification of starvation and CDT provides a new nanoplatform for tumor therapy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-023-01878-3.