MXenes-Mediated Photermal Therapy on Reliable 3D Models of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed invasive cancer among women globally. Current therapies (e.g. chemotherapy) show numerous limitations due to the lack of selectivity and the consistent side effects. This led to investigating novel approaches aimed at improving tumor-killing efficacy. We previously demonstrated the effect of new bioactive nanomaterials with promising photophysical properties, the MXenes, used to increase the efficiency of targeted breast cancer Photothermal Therapy (PTT). In this work, we investigated the effect of Few and Multi layers MXenes mediated-PTT on two different three-dimensional reliable models of breast cancer; conventional spheroids and bioprinted spheroids. We performed PTT on the two models of breast cancer by using a non-toxic concentration of MXenes (50 µg/mL). After PTT, a significant reduction in cell viability was observed along with a strong increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS). We furthermore investigated the effect of PTT on the migration of macrophages and endothelial cells towards cancer region in both 3D models. Our results indicate that PTT mediated by both Few and Multi layers MXenes significantly modulate tumor progression by inducing the cells death by increasing the temperature, particularly in the bioprinted model.