Molybdenum disulfide (MoS
2) is a typical transition metal disulfide, which is a class of two-dimensional nanomaterials, that has many biomedical applications, owing to its simple preparation, good stability, large surface area, excellent water dispersibility, and biocompatibility
[68][69][70]. MoS
2 has especially high NIR absorbance. Because of this, it has high photothermal conversion efficiency. Based on this, many researchers have applied it in photothermal therapy
[71][72]. However, its ability to recognize specific tumor cells needs to be improved. For example, Pang et al. developed a new method
[73] which used MoS
2 as the photothermal agent. Firstly, by mixing MoS
2 and bovine serum albumin (BSA), researchers obtained MoS
2-BSA nanosheets. Next, EDC and NHS were used to activate the free carboxyl group on the MoS
2-BSA surface, and subsequently aptamers were modified to obtain composite MoS
2-BSA-Apt nanosheets, which were stable and biocompatible. Owing to the good affinity between aptamers and receptors on the cell surface
[74][75], the composition would distinguish MCF-7 human breast cancer cells from other cells and then enter the cells through endocytosis. Under the irradiation from an 808 nm laser, the heat generated kills cancer cells, which is on the basis of MoS
2 nanosheets. After MoS
2-BSA-Apt was cultured with MCF-7 human breast cancer cells and MCF-10A human breast cancer cells, the fluorescence-inverted microscope results showed that MCF-7 human breast cancer cells had uniformly distributed green fluorescence signals, while MCF-10A human breast cancer cells had almost no fluorescence signal. The results showed that under the same laser irradiation time, MoS
2-BSA-Apt exhibited a better cell-killing effect than MoS
2-BSA, indicating that MoS
2-BSA-Apt could target MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. In addition, MoS
2 nanosheets have magnetism, fluorescence, and other properties. These properties can be used to develop a combined accurate diagnosis and treatment platform that integrates photothermal therapy with imaging diagnosis.
Graphene oxides (GOs) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been widely employed in cancer therapies because of their excellent photothermal conversion efficiencies and biocompatibilities
[76][77]. GOs are excellent nanomaterials as drug carriers due to their high loading capacity. Therefore, creating a nanomatrix by combining GOs with AuNPs in a single system may enhance the photothermal effects on tumors. Considering the high loading capacities of GOs, Yang et al. anchored AuNPs on GOs to enhance the photothermal effect
[78]. As shown in
Figure 2, to improve the targeting capability of this nanomatrix, thiolated MUC1 aptamers were immobilized on the surface of AuNPs via strong Au−S bond, which can specifically recognize breast cancer cells. Next, the Apt–AuNPs were absorbed onto GOs. Then, the generated heat kills cancer cells with irradiation of the laser. To evaluate the targeting of Apt-AuNPs-GOs, researchers used MCF-7 cells (MUC1-positive cell lines) and EA.hy926 cells (MUC1-negative cell lines). RB molecules were loaded onto Apt-AuNPs-GOs to form fluorescent RB-Apt-AuNPs-GOs. The results indicated that EA.hy926 cells showed very weak fluorescence while MCF-7 cells showed strong red fluorescence. Owing to the excellent loading capacities of GOs, this strategy could be extended to the construction of heat shock protein inhibitor-loaded Apt-AuNPs-GOs to strengthen the effect of photothermal therapy.
As shown in
Figure 3, Wu et al. also proposed a method with metal nanomaterials
[79]. Ag-Au nanostructures have high photothermal conversion efficiencies and are applied in PTT. By modifying the S2.2 aptamer on the surface of Ag-Au nanostructures, the Apt-Ag-Au nanostructures could interact with breast cancer cells on whose membrane MUC1 proteins are overexpressed and realized photothermal therapy. Besides, Ag-Au nanostructures are attractive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates because of the synergism of these metals, the tunability of the plasmon resonance, and the superior SERS activity. The synthesized Apt-Ag-Au nanostructures will contribute to developing a protocol to specifically recognize and sensitively detect the cancer cells and facilitate the synergistic treatment of diagnosis and photothermal therapy.