肿瘤细胞中抗氧化剂储备不足在活性氧（ROS）介导的治疗中发挥着关键作用。金属硫蛋白-2 (MT-2) 是一种富含半胱氨酸的细胞内蛋白质，以其有效的抗氧化特性而闻名，与肿瘤的发展密切相关，并与不良预后相关。因此，MT-2 成为肿瘤治疗的一个有前景的靶标。在此，我们展示了铜掺杂碳点 (Cu-CD) 的开发，以靶向 MT-2，以损害肿瘤细胞中脆弱的抗氧化剂储备。这些Cu-CDs具有较高的肿瘤积累性和较长的体内滞留时间，可以通过诱导氧化应激来有效抑制肿瘤的生长。转录组测序揭示了体内肿瘤样本中 MT-2 表达的显着下降。进一步的力学研究表明，Cu-CD 的抗肿瘤作用与载脂蛋白 E (ApoE) 介导的 MT-2 表达下调和抗氧化系统崩溃密切相关。 Cu-CD 强大的抗肿瘤功效为开发用于癌症治疗的 MT-2 靶向纳米药物提供了宝贵的见解。

The insufficient antioxidant reserves in tumor cells play a critical role in reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated therapeutics. Metallothionein-2 (MT-2), an intracellular cysteine-rich protein renowned for its potent antioxidant properties, is intricately involved in tumor development and correlates with a poor prognosis. Consequently, MT-2 emerges as a promising target for tumor therapy. Herein, we present the development of copper-doped carbon dots (Cu-CDs) to target MT-2 to compromise the delicate antioxidant reserves in tumor cells. These Cu-CDs with high tumor accumulation and prolonged body retention can effectively suppress tumor growth by inducing oxidative stress. Transcriptome sequencing unveils a significant decrease in MT-2 expression within the in vivo tumor samples. Further mechanical investigations demonstrate that the antitumor effect of Cu-CDs is intricately linked to apolipoprotein E (ApoE)-mediated downregulation of MT-2 expression and the collapse of the antioxidant system. The robust antitumor efficacy of Cu-CDs provides invaluable insights into developing MT-2-targeted nanomedicine for cancer therapies.