Functionalized MoS2-nanosheets for targeted drug delivery and chemo-photothermal therapy

Abstract

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2) has been extensively for biomedical applications due to itsexcellent photothermal conversion ability. In this paper, we reported a nanoplatform based on folic acid (FA) targeted dual-stimuli responsive MoS 2 nanosheets (FA-BSA-PEI-LA-MoS 2-LA-PEG, FBPMP) and explore this for the treatment of FA-receptor positive human breast cancer. The nanocomposites had a uniform diameter (133 nm), and could be loaded with the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) to a high capacity (151.4 mg/g). The release of DOX was greatly accelerated at pH 5.0 as compared to pH 7.4. In addition, it was found that drug release is enhanced under the near infrared laser (NIR) irradiation, showing that the composites can be used as dual responsive systems, with DOX release controllable through pH or NIR irradiation. MTT assays and confocal experiments showed that FBPMP nanoplatform could selectively target and kill FA-positive MDA-MB-231 cells (a human breast cancer cell line). The platform also allowed the combination of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy, which led to synergistic effects superior to either monotherapy. The functionalized MoS 2 nanoplatform developed in this work hence could be a potent system for targeted drug delivery and synergistic chemo-photothermal cancer therapy.

Dual-responsive molybdenum disulfide/copper sulfide-based delivery systems for enhanced chemo-photothermal therapy

“…This effect is minimal in the case of free DOX, but much more noticeable when the DOX is which is beneficial for combined chemo-photothermal therapy. However, it should be noted that less DOX fluorescence was observed here compared to other MoS 2 -based systems conjugated with ligands for receptor-mediated uptake and active targeting [26,48]. This confirms the benefits of using targeting ligands to enhance cellular uptake.…”

“…The photothermal conversion efficiency (Fig. S2) of CuS-MoS 2 -SH-PEG was calculated as 59.3%, superior to that reported for another modified MoS 2 system in a previous report [48].…”

“…The release of DOX was faster with laser irradiation than without, which allows release to be triggered by exposure to NIR. Compared to a previous study exploring functionalized MoS 2 delivery systems for DOX, the effect of NIR on DOX release is more apparent here [48]. This can be attributed to the enhanced photothermal efficacy of the CuS modified MoS 2 -nanosheets.…”

Synergistic Chemo-Photothermal Suppression of Cancer by Melanin Decorated MoOx Nanosheets

“…This formulation was used for all other studies. The loading capacity noted here is rather greater than a previous report by Zhang et al (who obtained a loading of 151.4 mg per gram of a MoS2-PEG nanocomposite) and close to that reported for graphdiyne (38%) [42][43] . The loading observed here is significantly improved over other a range of other delivery systems which have been explored in the literature, such as molecularly imprinted polymers (7.08%), polyprodrug nanoparticles (13%), or mesoporous silica nanoparticles (5.8%) [44][45][46] .…”

“…The greatest extent of cell death was observed with MoOx-PEG-Mel-DOX and NIR laser irradiation. The NIR both causes temperature increases through photothermal conversion, and also weakens the interactions between DOX and the MoOx carrier 42 . This synergistic effect leads to the greatest extent of cell death when both PTT and chemotherapy are applied.…”