Polyoxometalate nanoclusters: A potential preventative and therapeutic drug for inflammatory bowel disease

Although the etiology and pathogenesis of refractory inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are still largely suspended, elimination of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in inflamed colon has been confirmed as an effective strategy to alleviate IBD. In this work, ROS scavengable tungsten (W)-based polyoxometalate nanoclusters (W-POM NCs) were explored as potential POMs-based medicine for safe and effective IBD preventative/therapeutic therapy. Due to the existence of W element with mixed valence state, W-POM NCs with good stability and biosafety could be non-invasively monitored by clinical computed tomography (CT) after oral administration and alleviate intestinal inflammation by scavenging multiple ROS as evidenced by reduced colonic damage, disease activity index (DAI) scores and levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in an acute colitis mouse model. Therefore, our work pioneered the application of POMs with ROS scavenge capability for the treatment of IBD without significant adverse effects.