A dynamic cascade DNA nanocomplex to synergistically disrupt the pyroptosis checkpoint and relieve tumor hypoxia for efficient pyroptosis cancer therapy.

Pyroptosis has attracted widespread concerns in cancer therapy, while the therapeutic efficiency could be significantly restricted by using the crucial pyroptosis checkpoint of autophagy and tumor hypoxia. Herein, a DNA nanocomplex (DNFs@ZnMn), containing cascade DNAzymes, promoter-like ZnO-Mn nanozymes and photosensitizers, was constructed in one pot through rolling circle amplification reactions to induce pyroptosis through disrupting autophagy. After targeting cancer cells with a high expression of H and glutathione, DNFs@ZnMn decomposed to expose DNAzymes and promoter-like ZnO-Mn nanozymes. Then, sufficient metal ions and O were released to promote cascade DNA/RNA cleavage and relieving of tumor hypoxia. The released DNAzyme-1 self-cleaved long DNA strands with Zn as the cofactor and simultaneously exposed DNAzyme-2 to cleave ATG-5 mRNA (with Mn as the cofactor). This cascade DNAzyme-mediated gene regulation process induced downregulation of ATG-5 proteins to disrupt autophagy. Simultaneously, the released ZnO donated sufficient HO to generate adequate O to relieve tumor hypoxia, obtaining highly cytotoxic O to trigger pyroptosis. By using dynamic cascade gene silencing to disrupt the pyroptosis checkpoint and synergistic relieving of hypoxia, this DNA nanocomplex significantly weakened cellular resistance to achieve efficient pyroptosis therapy both and .