A highly-active chemodynamic agent based on in situ generated copper complexes from copper hexacyanoferrate nanoparticles
Small 2025, 2412355, 21st Feb. 2025
Javier Bonet-Aleta, José L. Hueso, Ángeles Valls-Chiva, Iris Ruiz-Aranda, Brenda Manzanilla, José I. Garcia-Peiro, Sergio Aina, Esteban Urriolabeitia, Juan V. Alegre-Requena, Jesús Santamaría
Abstract:
Copper hexacyanoferrate (Cu2Fe(CN)6) nanocubes with a homogeneous size under 100 nm are synthesized by self-assembly from Cu2+ and Fe(CN)63− precursors. Similar to previous reports with catalysts containing Cu and Fe, the objective is to produce a nanoparticle catalyst that can promote glutathione (GSH) oxidation thanks to the Cu contribution, plus some ROS production through Fenton-like processes fostered by Fe. Unexpectedly, the catalytic activity for GSH oxidation are much higher (≈50%) than those obtained with equal Cu amounts provided as CuCl2. Furthermore, in the presence of GSH concentrations characteristic of the tumor microenvironment, the nanocubes disassembled homogeneously, without a noticeably change of composition. These results suggest that this strong increase of catalytic activity arises from synergistic coordination of the released Cu2+ and Fe(CN)63− ions that facilitate GSH deprotonation, accelerating its oxidation. Given the role of GSH in the nanoparticle disassembly process, a selective action of the catalyst can be obtained: lethal doses as low as 18 ppm of Cu are obtained for U251-MG cancer cells while healthy fibroblasts are largely spared.
24-02-2025
