Sergiy Kyrylenko, Inna Chorna, Zhanna Klishchova, Ilya Yanko, Anton Roshchupkin, Volodymyr Deineka, Kateryna Diedkova, Anastasia Konieva, Oksana Petrichenko, Irina Kube-Golovin, Gunther Wennemuth, Emerson Coy, Iryna Roslyk, Ivan Baginskiy, Veronika Zahorodna, Oleksiy Gogotsi, Benjamin Chacon, Luciana P. Cartarozzi, Alexandre L. R. Oliveira, Igor Iatsunskyi, Yury Gogotsi, and Maksym Pogorielov.
MXenes represent one of the most versatile and widely studied families of two-dimensional materials, with applications extending across numerous scientific and technological fields, including biomedicine. They are currently being evaluated for various medical purposes such as photothermal therapy, drug delivery, biosensing, tissue engineering, medical imaging, blood dialysis, and antibacterial coatings. While MXenes are known for their biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity, their potential genotoxic effects have remained largely unexplored. To assess whether MXenes impact DNA integrity in cultured cells, we exposed the cells to MXene materials and evaluated chromosomal DNA fragmentation using the DNA comet assay.
Both Ti₃C₂Tₓ and Nb₄C₃Tₓ MXenes led to the formation of DNA comets, indicating a significant genotoxic response in murine melanoma and human fibroblast cells. Interestingly, no associated cytotoxic effects were detected, suggesting that cells remained viable and tolerated the presence of MXenes. The flake size of MXenes played a key role in this effect—DNA fragmentation was observed with submicron-sized flakes, whereas larger flakes did not produce the same response. Additionally, DNA comets were not observed in non-viable cells. Further experiments involving chromosomal DNA extracted from MXene-loaded cells or mixing MXenes with purified DNA showed no evidence of DNA damage. Moreover, intact MXene-loaded living cells displayed no DNA cleavage under electrophoresis in the absence of an applied field.
The results suggest that submicron MXene flakes can enter living cells and induce DNA fragmentation during electrophoresis, likely due to their mechanical action under an electric field. This effect is attributed to the sharp, blade-like edges of the flakes moving or rotating within the cellular environment. Outside of this specific context, titanium- and niobium-based carbide MXenes demonstrated excellent compatibility with biological systems and showed no signs of genotoxicity or cytotoxicity. These insights could inform future research and applications of MXenes in targeted cancer therapies.
Reference: ACS Appl. Bio Mater. 2024, 7, 12, 8351–8366 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsabm.4c01142