US EPA

2716435 

Journal Article 

Molybdenum Trioxide Nanoparticles with Intrinsic Sulfite Oxidase Activity 

Ragg, R; Natalio, F; Tahir, MN; Janssen, H; Kashyap, A; Strand, D; Strand, S; Tremel, W 

2014 

1 

ACS Nano
ISSN: 1936-0851
EISSN: 1936-086X 

8 

5 

5182-5189 

English 

24702461 

10.1021/nn501235j 

WOS:000336640600110 

Sulfite oxidase is a mitochondria-located molybdenum-containing enzyme catalyzing the oxidation of sulfite to sulfate in the amino acid and lipid metabolism. Therefore, it plays a major role in detoxification processes, where defects in the enzyme cause a severe infant disease leading to early death with no efficient or cost-effective therapy in sight. Here we report that molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) nanoparticles display an intrinsic biomimetic sulfite oxidase activity under physiological conditions, and, functionalized with a customized bifunctional ligand containing dopamine as anchor group and triphenylphosphonium ion as targeting agent, they selectively target the mitochondria while being highly dispersible in aqueous solutions. Chemically induced sulfite oxidase knockdown cells treated with MoO3 nanoparticles recovered their sulfite oxidase activity in vitro, which makes MoO3 nanoparticles a potential therapeutic for sulfite oxidase deficiency and opens new avenues for cost-effective therapies for gene-induced deficiencies. 

enzyme mimic; molybdenum oxide; sulfite oxidase; sulfite oxidase deficiency; nanoparticles; catalysis; biomimetics