Cu₂SnTe₃ Nanoparticles for Chemodynamic/Photodynamic /Photothermal Combination Tumor Therapy

Abstract

Cancer is a serious threat to human life. However, the effect of single treatment method is limited at present. Here, a Cu₂SnTe₃ (CST) nano‐reagent which can provide a strong synergetic effect in tumor therapy is successfully constructed. CST nanoparticles can not only convert endogenous H₂O₂ into ∙OH through surface‐catalyzed reactions, but also generate ¹O₂ based on light irradiation‐induced electron pair separation, leading to excessive oxidative stress accumulation in tumor cells. Interestingly, CST nanoparticles are also found to possess catalase‐like activity, which enhances the level of O₂ within hypoxic tumors, further improving the production efficiency of ¹O₂ by photodynamic therapy (PDT). In addition, the CST nanoparticles exhibit good photothermal conversion, which facilitates to promote more ^∙OH production by chemodynamic therapy (CDT). The results of in vitro and in vivo anti‐tumor experiments both demonstrate that CST nanoparticles can effectively inhibit the growth of tumor with minimal side effects. To sum up, CST nanoparticles have great potential in tumor treatment for efficient synergetic CDT/PDT/photothermal therapy.