Biocompatible semiconducting molybdenum diselenide nanosheets with glycyrrhizic acid for enhanced photothermal cancer therapy

초록

Nanosheets of molybdenum diselenide (MoSe<inf>2</inf>), a representative two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide, have attracted considerable attention for biological and medical applications due to their excellent biocompatibility and near-infrared (NIR) absorption capabilities. In this work, we present a simple method for preparing 2D therapeutic nanosheets that incorporate glycyrrhizic acid (GA), a naturally derived amphiphilic surfactant with anticancer properties, for the liquid exfoliation of bulk MoSe<inf>2</inf> to produce 2D GA-MoSe<inf>2</inf> nanosheets. GA is an excellent exfoliation agent because it can achieve a high yield of around 22 %, and it allows for liquid exfoliation of nanosheets in aqueous solutions. To improve their biocompatibility and cellular uptake, we coated them with polyethylene glycol (PEG), resulting in PEG-GA-MoSe<inf>2</inf> (PGM). PGM exhibited robust photothermal performance under 808 nm NIR laser irradiation (0.8 W/cm2, 5 min) and achieved a temperature rise of approximately 55 ℃, even at concentrations as low as 30 μg/mL. As a result, the PEG coating did not affect the photothermal performance of PGM and showed cellular uptake results of PGM that increased by around 3.5 times compared to those of the GA-MoSe<inf>2</inf> nanosheets. Furthermore, the nanosheets displayed remarkable colloidal stability without indications of structural degradation after multiple laser irradiation cycles. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated minimal cytotoxicity, excellent cellular uptake, and prominent photothermal therapeutic effects, resulting in significant tumor reduction or complete elimination in laser-treated tumor regions. These findings establish PGM as a promising biocompatible platform for photothermal cancer therapy that offers efficient NIR-induced hyperthermia for targeted tumor treatment. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.

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