A Supramolecular Photosensitizer System Based on Nano-Cu/ZIF-8 Capped with Water-Soluble Pillar[6]arene and Methylene Blue Host–Guest Complexations

Abstract

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) as a safe, non-invasive modality for cancer therapy, in which the low oxygen and high glutathione in the tumor microenvironment reduces therapeutic efficiency. In order to overcome these problems, we prepared a supramolecular photosensitive system of O2-Cu/ZIF-8@ZIF-8@WP6–MB (OCZWM), which was loaded with oxygen to increase the oxygen concentration in the tumor microenvironment, and the Cu2+ in the system reacted with glutathione (GSH) to reduce the GSH concentration to generate Cu+. It is worth noting that the generated Cu+ can produce the Fenton reaction, thus realizing the combination therapy of PDT and chemodynamic therapy (CDT) to achieve the purpose of significantly improving the anti-cancer efficiency