Engineering 2D Arsenic‐Phosphorus Theranostic Nanosheets

Abstract

AbstractAs an anticancer drugs, arsenic trioxide (ATO) has been certified to efficiently treat refractory acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Unfortunately it suffers from limited therapeutic potency for solid tumors due to its in vivo restricted administration dose and rapid renal clearance. Herein, distinct 2D arsenic‐phosphorus (AsP) nanosheets are engineered by adopting an alloy strategy followed by exfoliation, which can confine toxic arsenic into AsP crystals, thus significantly improving the biosafety and biocompatibility of arsenic‐based chemotherapeutic drugs. Of particular note, the high light absorption and strong photothermal‐conversion efficiency (37.6%) in the second near infrared biowindow (NIR‐II) of AsP nanosheets not only endow them with desirable contrast‐enhanced photoacoustic imaging properties, but also achieve efficient local tumor hyperthermia, which further synergistically triggers the in‐situ transformation from low toxic/nontoxic AsP crystals into highly toxic arsenic species, exerting a strong arsenic‐mediated antineoplastic effect. Both in vitro and in vivo data verify the synergy between photonic therapy in NIR‐II and enhanced chemotherapy as enabled by AsP nanosheets, paving the way for efficient nanomedicine‐enabled arsenic‐based chemotherapeutic tumor treatment.