Combined Chemo-photothermal Antitumor Therapy Using Molybdenum Disulfide Modified with Hyperbranched Polyglycidyl

In the treatment of cancers, molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has shown great potential as a photoabsorbing agent in photothermal therapy and also as an antitumor drug delivery system in chemotherapy. However, the poor dispersibility and stability of MoS₂ in aqueous solutions limit its applications in cancer therapy. To overcome the shortcomings, MoS₂ was modified mainly by surface adsorption of linear polymers, such as chitosan and poly(ethylene glycol). As reported, the linear polymers could be more rapidly cleared from blood circulation than their branched counterparts. Herein, we developed hyperbranched polyglycidyl (HPG)-modified MoS₂ (MoS₂-HPG) by absorbing HPG on the MoS₂ surface. The MoS₂-HPG as a novel photoabsorbing agent was also used as a nanoscaled carrier to load antitumor drug doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) (MoS₂-HPG-DOX) for combined chemo-photothermal therapy. The physicochemical and photothermal properties of MoS₂-HPG were measured, and the results indicate that MoS₂-HPG had good dispersion and stability in aqueous solutions and also high photothermal conversion efficiency. MoS₂-HPG displayed good biocompatibility in hemocompatibility and cytotoxicity evaluations in vitro. Furthermore, the combined chemo-photothermal therapy using MoS₂-HPG-DOX demonstrated better anticancer effect than the individual chemotherapy or photothermal therapy alone. From the results, MoS₂-HPG with combined chemo-photothermal therapy could be developed as a promising therapeutic formulation for clinical cancer treatment.