The effect of 2D tungsten disulfide nanoparticles on Lewis lung carcinoma cells in vitro .

The unique physicochemical properties of modern two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials with graphene-like structures make them promising candidates for biology and medicine purposes. In this article, we investigate the influence of the two-dimensional tungsten disulfide (2D WS 2 ) water suspension nanoparticles obtained by an improved mechanochemical method from powdered WS 2 on morphological and structural characteristics of Lewis lung carcinoma cells using FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, and confocal microscopy. The characterization of the 2D WS 2 nanoparticles by different physical methods is given also. We have highlighted that 2D WS 2 does not exert cytotoxic activity in the case of 1 day incubation with tumor cells. Prolongation of the incubation period up to 2 days has caused a statistically significant ( p < 0.05) concentration-dependent decrease of the number of viable cells by more than 30% with the maximum cytotoxic effect at concentrations of 2D WS 2 close to 2 μg ml -1 . In the Raman spectra of 2D WS 2 treated cells the bands centered at 354 cm -1 and 419 cm -1 , which are assigned to characteristics and modes of WS 2 nanoparticles were observed. The obtained data indicate, that the cytotoxic effect of 2D WS 2 on tumor cells in the case of long-term incubation is realized particularly through the ability of 2D WS 2 to enter tumor cells and/or accumulate on their surface, which gives a rationale to conduct further studies of their antitumor efficacy in vitro and in vivo when combined with chemotherapeutic drugs.