Fabrication of Smart Tantalum Carbide MXene Quantum Dots with Intrinsic Immunomodulatory Properties for Treatment of Allograft Vasculopathy

Abstract

MXene nanomaterials have sparked significant interest among interdisciplinary researchers to tackle today's medical challenges. In particular, colloidal MXene quantum dots (MQDs) offer the high specific surface area and compositional flexibility of MXene while providing improvements to aqueous stability and material–cell interactions. The current study for the first time reports the development and application of immunoengineered tantalum‐carbide (Ta4C3Tx) MQDs for in vivo treatment of transplant vasculopathy. This report comes at a critical juncture in the field as poor long‐term safety of other MXene compositions challenge the eventual clinical translatability of these materials. Using rational design and synthesis strategies, the Ta4C3Tx MQDs leverage the intrinsic anti‐inflammatory and antiapoptotic properties of tantalum to provide a novel nanoplatform for biomedical engineering. In particular, these MQDs are synthesized with high efficiency and purity using a facile hydrofluoric acid‐free protocol and are enriched with different bioactive functional groups and stable surface TaO2 and Ta2O5. Furthermore, MQDs are spontaneously uptaken into antigen‐presenting endothelial cells and alter surface receptor expression to reduce their activation of allogeneic T‐lymphocytes. Finally, when applied in vivo, Ta4C3Tx MQDs ameliorate the cellular and structural changes of early allograft vasculopathy. These findings highlight the robust potential of tailored Ta4C3Tx MQDs for future applications in medicine.

Conversion of 2D MXene to Multi‐Low‐Dimensional GerMXene Superlattice Heterostructure

“…These data coincide with our measurement on surface charge of synthesized A‐MXene (−10 to −25 mV) and is in agreement with the reports in literature on surface charge properties of 2D MXene nanosheets. [ 56 , 57 ] However, our ζ analysis of aqueous GeH colloids showed a significantly lower negative surface charge compared to GerMXene at a similar concentration (+5 to −5 mV). The difference between surface charge of GerMXene and GeH could be due to differences in the surface functional groups.…”

2D Materials for Cardiac Tissue Repair and Regeneration

“…More recently, the same group immune-engineered tantalum carbide (Ta 4 C 3 T x ) MXene QDs to develop immunomodulatory material that can inhibit desired cellular immune responses during the healing process via regulation of surface co-activator and co-inhibitor molecules. In their report, they have shown that these materials were able to ameliorate the cellular and structural changes of early allograft vasculopathy (105). Such an immune-engineering approach can overcome one of the biggest limitations of CVT engineering in the future.…”

MXenes Quantum Dots for Biomedical Applications: Recent Advances and Challenges

“…Relative to graphene quantum dots, MQDs can independently exert immunomodulatory effects in T-cell populations without dedicated antigen-presenting cells (APCs). [142] Ta 4 C 3 T x MQDs obtained synthetically by Alireza Rafieerad et al [143] are not significantly toxic in vitro in contact with the skin and maintain good biocompatibility with human superficial cells (Figure 13). The quantum dots are rapidly taken up by endothelial cells upon entry into the body, rapidly altering the cell surface coactivator and co-inhibitor molecules and attenuating the specific immunity of lymphocytes against them.…”