Facile fabrication of copper-carbon aerogel nanozyme for facilitating anti-tumor activity <i>in vitro</i>

Malignant tumors pose a significant threat to human life and health. Among these, lung cancer has become one of the most prevalent and lethal forms. The emerging in-situ catalytic Fenton reaction, which generates toxic hydroxyl radical (·OH), has shown great potential in the field of nanozyme treatment. However, there are a few problems that make it difficult to use it in practice. Firstly, the typical iron-based Fenton catalysts have a narrow working pH range. And the efficiency of the Fenton reaction has been strictly limited by the concentration of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in the tumor microenvironment. Besides, reduced glutathione (GSH) is overexpressed in most tumor cells, which can scavenge highly active ·OH, thus enhancing the oxidation resistance capability. In view of this, we put forward the strategy of fabricating a novel copper-carbon aerogel (Cu-CA) nanozyme with good biocompatibility via a facile one-step method for parallel catalysis which could simultaneously lower GSH level and facilitate the generation of ·OH. Both the structure information and anti-tumor activity of Cu-CA were preliminarily assessed in vitro. In general, this work provides new insight on the rational design of carbon aerogel-based nanozyme for potential tumor catalytic therapy.