Injectable and Temperature-Sensitive Titanium Carbide-Loaded Hydrogel System for Photothermal Therapy of Breast Cancer.

Jun Yao,Tianjiao Peng,Qiang Ma,Shegan Gao,Chuanda Zhu

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2021.791891

Abstract

Recently, organic–inorganic hybrid materials have gained much attention as effective photothermal agents for cancer treatment. In this study, Pluronic F127 hydrogel-coated titanium carbide (Ti3C2) nanoparticles were utilized as an injectable photothermal agent. The advantages of these nanoparticles are their green synthesis and excellent photothermal efficiency. In this system, lasers were mainly used to irradiate Ti3C2 nanoparticles to produce a constant high temperature, which damaged cancer cells. The nanoparticles were found to be stable during storage at low temperatures for at least 2 weeks. The Ti3C2 nanoparticles exhibited a shuttle-shaped structure, and the hydrogels presented a loosely meshed structure. In addition, Ti3C2 nanoparticles did not affect the reversible temperature sensitivity of the gel, and the hydrogel did not affect the photothermal properties of Ti3C2 nanoparticles. The in vitro and in vivo results show that this hydrogel system can effectively inhibit tumor growth upon exposure to near-infrared irradiation with excellent biocompatibility and biosafety. The photothermal agent-embedded hydrogel is a promising photothermal therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment by enhancing the retention in vivo and elevating the local temperature in tumors.

Highlights

Photothermal therapy (PTT) has been widely used in cancer therapy because of its excellent antitumor effects (Senapati et al, 2018; Zhi et al, 2020)
The hematoxylin–eosin staining kit (H&E) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) kit were purchased from Solarbio (Beijing, China)
To assess the stability of the photothermal agents (PTAs), the Ti3C2 nanoparticles and Ti3C2Gel were stored at 4°C for 2 weeks and examined for changes in particle size (Figure 2H)

Summary

Introduction

Photothermal therapy (PTT) has been widely used in cancer therapy because of its excellent antitumor effects (Senapati et al, 2018; Zhi et al, 2020). In PTT, a near-infrared (NIR: 700–1,100 nm) laser is used to irradiate the target area where a PTT agent is present. This produces a constant high temperature (40°C–50°C), which either induces the death of local cancer cells or increases their sensitivity to other therapies (Chen et al, 2017; Yu et al, 2017; Zhao et al, 2018; Lu et al, 2020). PTA is often administered intravenously (Popescu et al, 2011; Jiang et al, 2018; Zhang et al, 2018; Zhi et al, 2020). There are some concerns regarding the toxicity of intravenously

Methods

Results

Conclusion