Boron-Containing Nanoenzyme for Effective Treatment of Melanoma through Boron Neutron Capture Therapy Combined with Catalytic Therapy

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a re-emerging field to achieve precision treatment of malignant tumors with its unique biotargeting and heavy-ion effects, and combination therapy could effectively improve the therapeutic efficacy of BNCT. Herein, a tumor-targeted boron-containing nanozyme was prepared to achieve the combination of BNCT and catalytic therapy for the effective treatment of melanoma. Notably, the boron-containing nanoenzyme exhibited strong peroxidase-like catalytic activity, had skin melanoma cell selectivity, and could undergo a catalytic reaction within the tumor cells to induce apoptosis. During BNCT, the catalytic activity of the boron-containing nanoenzyme could be combined with BNCT to exert a more powerful therapeutic effect than a monotherapy. In the BNCT treatment of skin melanoma tumor-bearing mice, the boron-containing nanoenzyme had a strong tumor-targeting ability and could exert catalytic effects to effectively inhibit tumor growth. After combined treatment, the tumor volume of mice was significantly reduced, the survival time of tumor-bearing mice was prolonged, and the survival rate was remarkably improved. Meanwhile, the boron-containing nanoenzyme could enhance the efficacy of tumor treatment by inhibiting the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and extracellular matrix degradation in combination therapy. Thus, the boron-containing nanoenzyme is a promising boron-containing drug to achieve BNCT combined with catalytic therapy for tumor treatment and could facilitate biological applications of nanoenzyme-based materials in BNCT.