CuS-NiS nanomaterials for MRI guided phototherapy of gastric carcinoma triggering mitochondria-mediated apoptosis and MLKL/CAPG-mediated necroptosis.

Gastric carcinoma is one of the most lethal malignant tumors. As part of our long-term efforts on seeking effective diagnosis and therapeutic strategies of gastric cancer, we present herein novel ternary copper-based chalcogenide nanoplatform CuS-NiS nanomaterials with outstanding photothermal (PT)/photodynamic (PD) property that could effectively suppress human gastric cancer and vo without obvious side effects. We revealed that CuS-NiS induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, leading to apoptosis through Bcl-2/Bax pathway of human gastric cancer cells under 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. In addition, we also confirmed that the combination of CuS-NiS and 808 nm NIR laser treatment triggered necroptosis by regulating the novel pathway MLKL/CAPG of human gastric cancer cells. Moreover, the CuS-NiS exhibited excellent contrast enhancement according to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Taken together, we reported new ternary copper-based chalcogenide nanomaterials CuS-NiS, which could be successfully applied for MRI-guided PT/PD therapy of gastric carcinoma through mitochondria-mediated apoptosis and MLKL/CAPG-mediated necroptosis.