Ultrasmall Bi@Au Schottky Heterojunction with a High Potential Barrier for Amplifying Radioimmunotherapy

作者：Chuang Shen, Xianghong Niu, Jiaxu Zhang, Shengheng Wang, Jianwei Chen, Fei Xu, Yefan Duan, Ying Zhang, Lixing Weng, Zhimin Luo, Lianhui Wang · 发表于：ACS Nano · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/acsnano.5c02753 · 被引用次数：16 · 研究领域：Superconducting and THz Device Technology、GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials、Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry and Applications

Radiotherapy (RT) often has poor clinical sensitivity and tumor metastasis inhibition due to weak X-ray absorption, low energy deposition, inefficient reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and induction of antitumor immune response. Here, we report an ultrasmall Bi@Au Schottky heterojunction, namely, Bi@Au nanodots (Bi@Au NDs), to enhance the sensitivity of RT and activate systemic immunity for effective tumor treatment and metastasis inhibition. Bi@Au NDs exhibit a high efficiency of ROS generation and glutathione (GSH) depletion. Density functional theory calculations reveal that Bi@Au NDs with a high Schottky potential barrier can efficiently facilitate carrier separation and prevent carrier backflow, which results in abundant electrons for catalytically decomposing H 2 O 2 to • OH under X-ray irradiation. Experimental results in vitro and in vivo show that Bi@Au NDs can significantly sensitize RT by enhancing ROS generation and GSH depletion. Bi@Au ND-sensitized RT greatly induces immunogenic cell death and thus promotes a CD8 + T cell-mediated systemic immune response, ultimately inhibiting tumor metastasis. Bi@Au NDs as a kind of Schottky heterojunctions can be an effective amplifier for radioimmunotherapy.