Ferroptosis-inducing photosensitizers alleviate hypoxia tumor microenvironment for enhanced fluorescence imaging-guided photodynamic therapy

This study describes H2O2-activated photosensitizer nanoparticles (ICyHD NPs), which inhibit histone deacetylase via binding Zn2+ to induce ferroptosis and upregulate the intracellular O2, thus resulting in enhanced photodynamic therapeutic effect. ICyHD NPs exert strong antitumor effects on mice and have improved the therapeutic precision via observing the increase in cellular fluorescence. A photosensitizer exhibits enhanced photodynamic therapy effect via inducing ferroptosis, which increases O2 levels and thus reduces the intracellular hypoxia.