Engineered Titanium Oxide Nanoplatform for Targeted Photothermal and Gas Therapy in Keloid Treatment
Description
Keloids represent a significant global health challenge due to their persistent growth, invasiveness, and high recurrence rates. Keloids are abnormal scars caused by disordered wound healing, characterized by excessive keloid fibroblast (KF) proliferation, irregular collagen deposits, and persistent reticular dermis inflammation, which can lead patient to limited joint mobility, psychological distress, and severe pain and itching. Herein, we report a metal-organic framework (MOF) derived titanium oxide nanoparticle (LA@CTx NP) as a phototherapy-gas therapy nanoplatform, which can inhibit the excessive proliferation of keloid fibroblasts, degrade collagen and inhibit inflammation. The NPs, inheriting the characteristic structure of MIL-125 and enriching with oxygen vacancies (OVs) and L-arginine (LA), demonstrate both high photothermal conversion efficiency and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation yield upon near infrared (NIR) activation. Moreover, ROS produced by NPs can produce NO by oxidizing LA, and it is possible to control the production efficiency of NO by lighting conditions, which can inhibit inflammation at low concentrations and lead to cell death at higher concentrations. In vitro/vivo results demonstrate that LA@CTx NPs directly kill keloid cells and effectively eliminate primary keloids by exerting dual photodynamic-/photothermal-therapy under a single NIR irritation. This study provides a promising approach for the clinical treatment of keloid.