The highly effective therapy of ovarian cancer by Bismuth-doped oxygen-deficient BaTiO3 with enhanced sono-piezocatalytic effects

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the leading cause of death of gynecological malignancy. Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) with high penetration ability and minimal invasion is considered a safe method to eliminate deep OC. The development of highly efficient sonosensitizers warrants the successful application of SDT. This work proposed an oxygen-deficient piezoelectric nanocomposite (Bismuth doped oxygen-deficient BaTiO3) as a novel sonosensitizer. The oxygen defect engineering decreased the band gap, and Schottky junction modified by Bismuth(Bi) nanoparticles prompted the transfer and separation of charge carriers and inhibited the recombination under ultrasound irradiation. The in vitro results demonstrated that the Bi doped oxygen-deficient BaTiO3 could significantly increase the apoptosis of tumor cells because of its high efficiency in generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). RNA sequencing further proved that its antitumor activity might be achieved through the extracellular matrix disassembly pathway. The in vivo study demonstrated that Bi doped oxygen-deficient BaTiO3 could achieve high SDT efficiency for OC therapy.