One-pot bottom-up fabrication of biocompatible PEGylated WS₂ nanoparticles for CT-guided photothermal therapy of tumors in vivo

Background: Tungsten disulfide (WS₂), which enjoyed a good potential to be a promising clinical theranostic agent for cancer treatment, is still subject to the tedious synthesis procedure.

Methods: Here, we reported a one-pot 'bottom-up' hydrothermal strategy for the fabrication of PEGylated WS₂ nanoparticles (NPs). The WS₂-PEG nanoparticles were characterized systematically. The CT imaging and photothermal therapy against tumor as well as biosafety in vitro and in vivo were also investigated.

Results: The obtained WS₂-PEG NPs enjoyed obvious merits of good solubility and favorable photothermal performance. WS₂-PEG NPs exhibited desirable photothermal ablation ability against cancer cells and cancer cell-bearing mice in vitro and in vivo. MTT assay and histological analysis demonstrated the low cytotoxicity and biotoxicity of WS₂-PEG NPs, providing a valid biosafety guarantee for the coming biomedical applications. In addition, thanks to the obvious X-ray attenuation of W atom, the WS₂-PEG NPs can also be served as a favorable contrast agent for CT imaging of tumors.

Conclusion: WS₂-PEG NPs has enjoyed a good potential to be a promising clinical CT-guided photothermal therapeutic agent against cancers.