NIR Light-Triggered Degradable MoTe2 Nanosheets for Combined Photothermal and Chemotherapy of Cancer

Telluride molybdenum (MoTe2) nanosheets with wide near-infrared (NIR) absorbance are functionalized with polyethylene glycol-cyclic arginine-glycine-aspartic acid tripeptide (PEG-cRGD). After loading a chemotherapeutic drug (doxorubicin, DOX), MoTe2-PEG-cRGD/DOX is used for combined photothermal therapy and chemotherapy. With the high photothermal conversion efficiency, MoTe2-PEG-cRGD/DOX exhibits favorable cells killing ability under NIR irradiation. Owing to the cRGD-mediated specific tumor targeting, MoTe2-PEG-cRGD/DOX shows efficient accumulation in tumors to induce a strong tumor ablation effect. MoTe2-PEG-cRGD nanosheets, which are relatively stable in the circulation, could be degraded under NIR ray. The in vitro and in vivo experimental results demonstrate that this theranostic nanoagent, which could accumulate in tumors to allow photothermal imaging and combined therapy, is readily degradable in normal organs to enable rapid excretion and avoid long-term retention/toxicity, holding great potential to treat tumor effectively.