journal article·2025-12Open access

Enzyme‐Assisted Selective Biosynthesis of Polyrotaxane Assemblies in Living Cells for Precision Supramolecular Phototherapy

Ya‐Hui Song, Zhuo Lei, Ze‐Kai Deng, Bing Hu, Guang‐Ming Liu, Ying‐Ming Zhang, Yong Chen, Zhilin Yu, Yu Liu

Small· Volume 21· Issue 51

Abstract

Abstract In contrast to conventional bottom‐up self‐organization in an abiotic environment, it remains a formidable challenge to construct mechanically interlocked and biologically active supramolecules in cells and organisms. Notably, the in‐situ formation of polyrotaxane‐type nanoarchitectures has not been reported, and their biological implication is unexplored. Here, it is report the first selective biosynthesis of polyrotaxane assemblies in living cells for combined tumor therapy. Four‐armed porphyrins appended with lysine and glutamine residues are enzymatically coupled via overexpressed transpeptidase in malignant cells. The robust host–guest complexation between permethylated β‐cyclodextrin and porphyrin not only drives the morphological conversion from disordered polymers to 2D polyrotaxanes, but also improves the structural integrity and photophysical performance of porphyrin scaffolds. The chemical modification of the cyclodextrin skeleton further enables the biofunctional diversification of intracellularly formed polyrotaxanes, as demonstrated by the covalent incorporation of a targeting motif and photoactivable prodrug for specific cytoskeletal disruption. The obtained polyrotaxane assemblies exhibit efficient singlet oxygen generation up to 221% and prolonged tumor retention over 120 h, resulting in elevated photocytotoxicity and effective suppression of cell dissemination under light irradiation. The findings establish a unique in‐cellulo assembling evolution for attaining topologically complex supramolecules and demonstrate an in‐situ nanoformulation of biomedical agents in disease theranostics.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Supramolecular Chemistry and Complexes · Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics · Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

College of Chemistry State Key Laboratory of Elemento‐Organic Chemistry Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin) Nankai University Tianjin 300071 P. R. China

Department of Urology Tianjin First Center Hospital Nankai University Tianjin 300071 P. R. China

Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials Ministry of Education State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology Institute of Polymer Chemistry College of Chemistry Nankai University Tianjin 300071 P. R. China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China

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