Title: | Bottom-Up Synthesis of Metal-Ion-Doped WS2 Nanoflakes for Cancer Theranostics |
Authors: | Liang Cheng,*,†,§ Chao Yuan,†,§ Sida Shen,† Xuan Yi,‡ Hua Gong,† Kai Yang,‡ and Zhuang Liu*,† |
Institutions: | †Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China ‡School of Radiation Medicine and Protection & School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China. |
Abstract: | Recently, two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have received tremendous attention in many fields including biomedicine. Herein, we develop a general method to dope different types of metal ions into WS2 nanoflakes, a typical class of TMDCs, and choose Gd3+-doped WS2 (WS2:Gd3+) with polyethylene glycol (PEG) modification as a multifunctional agent for imaging-guided combination cancer treatment. While WS2 with strong near-infrared (NIR) absorbance and X-ray attenuation ability enables contrasts in photoacoustic (PA) imaging and computed tomography (CT), Gd3+ doping offers the nanostructure a paramagnetic property for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. As revealed by trimodal PA/CT/MR imaging, WS2:Gd3+-PEG nanoflakes showed efficient tumor homing after intravenous injection. In vivo cancer treatment study further uncovered that WS2:Gd3+-PEG could not only convert NIR light into heat for photothermal therapy (PTT) but also enhance the ionizing irradiation-induced tumor damage to boost radiation therapy (RT). Owing to the improved tumor oxygenation after the mild PTT, the combination of PTT and RT induced by WS2:Gd3+-PEG resulted in a remarkable synergistic effect to destroy cancer. Our work highlights the promise of utilizing inherent physical properties of TMDC-based nanostructures, whose functions could be further enriched by elementary doping, for applications in multimodal bioimaging and synergistic cancer therapy. |
IF: | 12.033 |
Link: | http://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.5b04606 Editor: Danting Xiang |