Co-Delivery of Doxorubicin and Chloroquine by Polyglycerol Functionalized MoS2 Nanosheets for Efficient Multidrug-Resistant Cancer Therapy

2D MoS2 has shown a great potential in biomedical applications, due to its superior loading capacity, photothermal property, and biodegradation. In this work, polyglycerol functionalized MoS2 nanosheets with photothermal and pH dual-stimuli responsive properties are used for the co-delivery of doxorubicin and chloroquine and treatment of multidrug-resistant HeLa (HeLa-R) cells. The polyglycerol functionalized MoS2 nanosheets with 80 nm average size show a high biocompatibility and loading efficiency (approximate to 90%) for both drugs. The release of drugs from the nanosheets at pH 5.5 is significantly promoted by laser irradiation leading to efficient destruction of incubated HeLa-R cells. In vitro evaluation shows that the designed nanoplatform has a high ability to kill HeLa-R cells. Confocal experiments demonstrate that the synthesized drug delivery system enhances the cellular uptake of DOX via folic acid targeting ligand. Taking advantage of the combined properties including biocompatibility and targeting ability as well as high loading capacity and photothermal release, this multifunctional nanosystem is a promising candidate for anticancer therapy.