Regulation of zeolite-derived upconversion photocatalytic system for near infrared light/ultrasound dual-triggered multimodal melanoma therapy under a boosted hypoxia relief tumor microenvironment via autophagy

Abstract Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production efficiency, tumor microenvironment hypoxia relief, and autophagy-induced cell death with minimal negative effects are considered the main objectives to achieve more efficient tumor treatment. However, realizing highly effective cancer treatment under hypoxia relief with a cell autophagy model based on suitable biomaterials is still a challenge. Herein, a biosafe upconversion nanomaterial based on Linde Type A (LTA) zeolites loaded with carbon nitride (C3N4) photocatalyst and chlorin e6 (Ce6) was developed as a rationally regulated photocatalytic system and multimodal tumor therapeutic platform. C3N4 contributes to stability, tumor hypoxia relief, high surface conductivity and high drug-loading. Remarkably, photodynamic therapy (PDT) and sonodynamic therapy (SDT) were proven capable of maximizing the ROS yield to obtain highly tumor therapeutic outcomes. Photothermal conversion efficiency was 46.72%. Furthermore, internalized nanomaterials can result in tumor inhibition through cell autophagy. The as-developed system shows a promising potential in the multimodal cancer therapeutics.