A systemic toxicity to the patient organism is an important issue of the conventional chemotherapy treatment of cancer. The possible route to overcome the overall poisoning of organism is targeted delivery and controlled release of cytotoxins to the cancer cells. In recent years, we witness accelerated research in the field of antibody-drug conjugates. Here the polymer backbone serves as a universally accepting base for bonding of targeting ligands and drugs. With the invent of graphene and the other 2D materials their capabilities were extensively scrutinized for biomedical applications. The field effect transistors (FETs) based on single layer of functionalized MoS2 layer exhibit extraordinary high sensitivity for detection (down to 10 fg/ml) of cancer related antigens. The rapid progress in covalent and non-covalent functionalization of exfoliated MoS2 layers opens new opportunities for binding of biocompatible molecules and proteins.
In this work we prepared exfoliated MoS2 nanoplatelets and modified with suitable photo-activated or biodegradable linker molecules to which the cytotoxins in form of small molecules or proteins will be attached. The linker molecules allow controlled release of cytotoxin in cancer cells. The added value of MoS2 is the strong Raman signal and photoluminiscence in red part (above 600 nm) of visible spectrum.
The alternative way would be to use graphene based nanoplatform. In particular, the hydrophilic character of graphene oxide (GO) permits the manufacture of reliable, highly sensitive and ultrafast biosensing nanoplatforms.
Basic characterization of MoS2 modified with polyethylene glycol or zwitterions (sulfobetain, carboxybetain) and modified GO and rGO, in terms of the degree of oxidation, exfoliation and nanoparticle size, are performed by the small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and by XPS. The monoclonal antibodies (MAb) specifically obtained from the medium of hybridoma cells are proteins and therefore have free NH2 and COOH groups. The COOH group was used for binding to nanoplatform with the amino groups on their surfaces. In the next step binding, internalization and effects of the functionalized GO-nanoplatform on the living cells using biological approaches will be studied.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-15-0641, and APVV-14-0120.
