Two-dimensional TiS 2 nanosheets for in vivo photoacoustic imaging and photothermal cancer therapy

• Published in: Nanoscale Vol. 7; no. 14; pp. 6380 - 6387
• Main Authors: Qian, Xiaoxin, Shen, Sida, Liu, Teng, Cheng, Liang, Liu, Zhuang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• ISSN: 2040-3364; 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/C5NR00893J

Recently, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have attracted significant attention in nanomedicine owing to their intriguing properties. In this study, TiS 2 nanosheets, a new TMDC nanomaterial, are synthesized by a bottom-up solution-phase method and then modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG), obtaining TiS 2 -PEG with high stability in physiological solutions and no appreciable in vitro toxicity. Due to their high absorbance in the near-infrared (NIR) region, TiS 2 -PEG nanosheets could offer a strong contrast in photoacoustic imaging, which uncovers the high tumor uptake and retention of these nanosheets after systemic administration into tumor-bearing mice. We further apply TiS 2 -PEG nanosheets for in vivo photothermal therapy, which are able to completely eradicate the tumors in mice upon intravenous injection of TiS 2 -PEG followed by NIR laser irradiation. Our work indicates that TiS 2 nanosheets with appropriate surface coating ( e.g. PEGylation) would be a promising new class of photothermal agents for imaging-guided cancer therapy.