Multimodal Cancer Theranosis Using Hyaluronate‐Conjugated Molybdenum Disulfide

Abstract Among various 2D nanomaterials, molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) exhibits unique visible photoluminescence with high absorption at the near‐infrared (NIR) range. Despite these optical properties, the efforts to use MoS 2 nanomaterials for optical imaging and photothermal therapy are hampered by their instability and low intracellular delivery efficiency. Multifunctional MoS 2 conjugated with hyaluronate (HA) for cancer theranosis is reported herein. HA facilitates the delivery of MoS 2 to tumor cells by the HA‐receptor mediated endocytosis. In BALB/c nude mice inoculated with a colorectal cancer cell line of HCT116, HA‐MoS 2 conjugates appear to be accumulated in the primary tumor at a content more than that in the liver and kidney. The disulfide bonding between MoS 2 and thiolated HA seems to degrade in the cytoplasm, releasing MoS 2 sheets in stacks and enhancing luminescence efficiency. The HA‐MoS 2 conjugates are readily detected via photoacoustic imaging as well as upconversion and downconversion fluorescence imaging. With NIR light illumination, HA‐MoS 2 conjugates enable highly effective photothermal tumor ablation. All these results confirm the promising potential of HA‐MoS 2 conjugates for cancer theranosis.