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Photothermal cancer therapy has attracted considerable interest for cancer treatment in recent years, but the effective photothermal agents remain to be explored before this strategy can be applied clinically. In this study, we therefore develop flower-like molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanoflakes and investigate their potential for photothermal ablation of cancer cells. MoS2 nanoflakes are synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method and then modified with lipoic acid-terminated polyethylene glycol (LA-PEG), endowing the obtained nanoflakes with high colloidal stability and very low cytotoxicity. Upon irradiation with near infrared (NIR) laser at 808 nm, the nanoflakes showed powerful ability of inducing higher temperature, good photothermal stability and high photothermal conversion efficiency. The in vitro photothermal effects of MoS2-PEG nanoflakes with different concentrations were also evaluated under various power densities of NIR 808-nm laser irradiation, and the results indicated that an effective photothermal killing of cancer cells could be achieved by a low concentration of nanoflakes under a low power NIR 808-nm laser irradiation. Furthermore, cancer cell in vivo could be efficiently destroyed via the photothermal effect of MoS2-PEG nanoflakes under the irradiation. These results thus suggest that the MoS2-PEG nanoflakes would be as promising photothermal agents for future photothermal cancer therapy.

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Developing biodegradable photothermal agent holds great significance for potential clinical translation of photothermal therapy. In the current study, one-pot hydrothermal synthesis of MoS nanoflakes with desirable degradation capability was presented. The participation of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) in hydrothermal process could not only facilitate the modification of polyethylene glycol (PEG), but also bestow degradability to the prepared MoS nanoflakes. Moreover, the PEGylated hybrid nanoflakes (MoS-PPEG) also exhibited excellent stability in various medium and outstanding photothermal properties. Interestingly, MoS-PPEG behaved distinctly different degradation rate in diverse condition. The rapid degradation of MoS-PPEG was observed in neutral pH solution, whereas much slower degradation occurred in an acidic tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, data indicated that the major degradation product of MoS-PPEG was water-soluble Mo-based ion. Meanwhile, the good in vitro biocompatibility of MoS-PPEG was also confirmed in terms of cytotoxicity and hemolysis. With favorable photothermal performance, MoS-PPEG can efficiently killing cancer cells in vitro and suppress the tumor growth in vivo. More importantly, the gradual decreasing content of MoS-PPEG in organs and detectable Mo element in urine of mice suggested that the degradability of MoS-PPEG might facilitate its excretion to some degree. Hence, the degradable MoS nanoflakes prepared by one-pot hydrothermal routine may provide insight for further biomedical applications of inorganic photothermal agent.