Engineering the Surface of Ti3C2 MXene Nanosheets for High Stability and Multimodal Anticancer Therapy

Abstract

The surface of Ti3C2 MXene nanosheets (TC NSs) was first modified with the antioxidants sodium ascorbate (SA) and dopamine (DA) (DSTC NS) to improve their stability in oxidative and hydration environments and thereby improve their bioapplications. This novel approach not only improved MXene stability by arresting oxidation but also increased the available functional groups for further functionalization with various biomolecules. The DSTC NSs were then sequentially conjugated with enzyme glucose oxidase (GOx) and photosensitizer Ce6 to render the obtained CGDSTC NSs with glucose starvation and photodynamic therapeutic properties and thus attain high efficiency in killing cancer cells through the cooperative effect. The as-synthesized CGDSTC NSs demonstrated tremendous photothermal effect with conversion efficiency of 45.1% and photodynamic (ROS generation) properties upon irradiation with 808 and 671 nm lasers. Furthermore, it was observed that the enzymatic activity of CGDSTC NSs increased upon laser irradiation due to enhanced solution temperature. During in vitro studies, the CGDSTC NSs exhibited cytocompatability to HePG2 and HeLa cells under nonstimulus conditions. However, they elicited more than 90% cell-killing efficiency in the presence of glucose and laser irradiation via the cooperative effect between starvation therapy and phototherapy. These results indicate that CGDSTC NSs could be used as potential therapeutic agents to eradicate cancers with no or few adverse effects. This surface modification approach is also simple and facile to adopt in MXene-based research.

Two-dimensional ultrathin Ti3C2 MXene nanosheets coated intraocular lens for synergistic photothermal and NIR-controllable rapamycin releasing therapy against posterior capsule opacification

“…Then, Rapa, as a potent immunosuppressive drug with anti-proliferation and anti-inflammation effects, was loaded on the Ti 3 C 2 nanosheets using the electrostatic self-assembly method. Due to the negative charge on the surface of Ti 3 C 2 nanosheets and the positive charge on Rapa molecules, a high drug loading capacity could be achieved ( Huang et al, 2022 ; Korupalli et al, 2022 ; Pires et al, 2022 ). The Ti 3 C 2 nanosheets and Rapa-Ti 3 C 2 nanosheets thus prepared have abundant functional groups on their surfaces, which can be easily dispersed in PBS ( Supplementary Figures S1A,B ).…”

MXenes in photomedicine: advances and prospects

“…2). 85 Korupalli et al 87 engineered the surface of MXene (Ti 3 C 2 ) nanosheets using sodium ascorbate and dopamine to enhance their stability under oxidative and hydration environments. Accordingly, these nanosheets were successively conjugated with enzyme glucose oxidase and photosensitizer Ce6 to obtain multifunctional nanosystems endowed with glucose starvation and photodynamic therapeutic features.…”

Advances of MXenes; Perspectives on Biomedical Research

“…Ti 3 C 2 T x -type MXenes were most extensively explored for anticancer applications [ 67 ], whereas MXenes such as Ti 2 C [ 68 ], Mo 2 C [ 69 ], Ta 4 C 3 [ 70 ], Nb 2 C [ 71 ], TiCN [ 72 ], and V 2 C [ 73 ] were also reported for effective anticancer therapy. The outstanding photothermal performance of MXenes proved to be promising for anticancer photothermal therapy [ 67 , 74 ]. Additionally, it is possible to produce local hyperthermia by the application of a NIR irradiation, and with the combined effect of chemo-photothermal synergetic therapy, an effective and localized tumor eradication could be achieved ( Table 2 ).…”