A hybrid nanomedicine (Au/FeMOF@CPT NPs), fabricated with metal–organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) as building blocks, may greatly enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy for liver cancer, showing new directions in the development of nanomedicine and anticancer treatment. The study, which was conducted by a joint team led by researchers at SAHZU (First author: Dr. DING Yuan; Corresponding author: Prof. WANG Weilin and Prof. YAN Sheng) and the Department of Polymer Materials and Engineering of Zhejiang University (Corresponding author: Prof. MAO Zhengwei), is published in the Advanced Science (click to view the article).

This tailored designed new modality can achieve better outcome in chemodynamic therapy. The gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with enzyme-mimic catalytic capability, which can oxidize intracellular glucose to produce H2O2 to kill tumor cells, are enclosed with and carried by iron ion containing porously structured MOF nanoparticles that only dissolve in specific tumor micro-environment and thus realize the controlled delivery of therapeutic drugs. The combination of metal ions and organic ligands show great anticancer performance.

The researchers believe that this nanomedicine would tackle many difficulty problems that chemotherapy now faces at a single time. The medicine, if existing in live cancer tissue, might be able to kill tumor cells and suppress their proliferation. At the same time, nanomaterials have powerful anticancer capability but with less side effects. 

It's also worth noting that the Au/FeMOF@CPT NPs can function in catherization procedure too. For example, targeted injection of the nanomedicine into early stage or metastatic liver tumors may enhance the treatment efficacy.