Multimodal Cancer Theranosis Using Hyaluronate-Conjugated Molybdenum Disulfide

Among various 2D nanomaterials, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) exhibits unique visible photoluminescence with high absorption at the near-infrared (NIR) range. Despite these optical properties, the efforts to use MoS2 nanomaterials for optical imaging and photothermal therapy are hampered by their instability and low intracellular delivery efficiency. Multifunctional MoS2 conjugated with hyaluronate (HA) for cancer theranosis is reported herein. HA facilitates the delivery of MoS2 to tumor cells by the HA-receptor mediated endocytosis. In BALB/c nude mice inoculated with a colorectal cancer cell line of HCT116, HA-MoS2 conjugates appear to be accumulated in the primary tumor at a content more than that in the liver and kidney. The disulfide bonding between MoS2 and thiolated HA seems to degrade in the cytoplasm, releasing MoS2 sheets in stacks and enhancing luminescence efficiency. The HA-MoS2 conjugates are readily detected via photoacoustic imaging as well as upconversion and downconversion fluorescence imaging. With NIR light illumination, HA-MoS2 conjugates enable highly effective photothermal tumor ablation. All these results confirm the promising potential of HA-MoS2 conjugates for cancer theranosis.