The therapeutic efficacy of silver loaded rhenium disulfide nanoparticles as a photothermal agent for cancer eradication

Sesha Subramanian Murugan; Won Hur; Seong Eun Son; Han Been Lee; Chang Hyeon Ha; Su Jeong Lee; Se Hwa Cheon; Do Hyeon Kim; Sung Min Jeon; Da Young Choi; Jayachandran Venkatesan; Gi Hun Seong

doi:10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2023.112831

The therapeutic efficacy of silver loaded rhenium disulfide nanoparticles as a photothermal agent for cancer eradication

J Photochem Photobiol B. 2024 Jan:250:112831. doi: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2023.112831. Epub 2023 Dec 14.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Bionano Engineering, Center for Bionano Intelligence Education and Research, Hanyang University, Ansan 426-791, South Korea; Biomaterials Research Laboratory, Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya Deemed to be University, Deralakatte, Mangaluru 575018, India.
² Department of Bionano Engineering, Center for Bionano Intelligence Education and Research, Hanyang University, Ansan 426-791, South Korea.
³ Department of Bionano Engineering, Center for Bionano Intelligence Education and Research, Hanyang University, Ansan 426-791, South Korea; Biomaterials Research Laboratory, Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya Deemed to be University, Deralakatte, Mangaluru 575018, India. Electronic address: jvenkatesan@yenepoya.edu.in.
⁴ Department of Bionano Engineering, Center for Bionano Intelligence Education and Research, Hanyang University, Ansan 426-791, South Korea. Electronic address: ghseong@hanyang.ac.kr.

PMID: 38134574
DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2023.112831

Abstract

Cancer is a life-threatening disease when it is diagnosed at a late stage or treatment procedures fail. Inhibiting cancer cells in the tumor environment is a significant challenge for anticancer therapy. The photothermal effects of nanomaterials are being studied as a new cancer treatment. In this work, rhenium disulfide (ReS₂) nanosheets were made by liquid exfoliation with gum arabic (GA) and coated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to produce reactive oxygen species that destroy cancer cells. The synthesized AgNP-GA-ReS₂ NPs were characterized using UV, DLS, SEM, TEM, and photothermal studies. According to the DLS findings, the NPs were about 216 nm in size and had a zeta potential of 76 mV. The TEM and SEM analyses revealed that the GA-ReS₂ formed single-layered nanosheets on which the AgNPs were distributed. The photothermal effects of the AgNP-GA-ReS₂ NPs at 50 μg/mL were tested with an 808 nm laser at 1.2 W cm^-2, and they reached 55.8 °C after 5 min of laser irradiation. MBA-MB-231 cells were used to test the cytotoxicity of the newly designed AgNP-GA-ReS₂ NPs with and without laser irradiation for 5 min. At 50 μg/mL, the AgNP-GA-ReS₂ showed cytotoxicity, which was confirmed with calcein and EtBr staining. The DCFH-DA and flow cytometry analyses demonstrated that AgNP-GA-ReS₂ nanosheets under NIR irradiation generated ROS with high anticancer activity, in addition to the photothermal effects.

Keywords: Anticancer activity; Laser irradiation; Photothermal therapy; Rhenium disulfide, transition metal dichalcogenides.

MeSH terms

Humans
Metal Nanoparticles* / toxicity
Neoplasms*
Rhenium*
Silver / pharmacology

Substances

Rhenium
Silver