Cytotoxicity of graphene oxide and graphene oxide loaded with doxorubicin on human multiple myeloma cells

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity of human multiple myeloma cells (RPMI-8226) treated with graphene oxide (GO), doxorubicin (DOX), and GO loaded with DOX (GO/DOX). Cell viability was determined using the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and analyzing the cell cycle and cell apoptosis. Cells treated with GO, GO/DOX, and pure DOX for 24 hours showed a decrease in proliferation. GO/DOX significantly inhibited cell proliferation as compared with pure DOX ( P <0.01). When the effects of GO were removed, there was no observed difference between GO/DOX and pure DOX ( P >0.05). Flow cytometry analysis of untreated and GO-, DOX-, and GO/DOX-treated cells found no significant differences in the G 0 /G 1 phase ( P >0.05), while significant differences were observed in the total apoptotic rates ( P <0.05). No significant differences existed in the total apoptotic rates of GO-treated and untreated cells ( P >0.05). These findings suggest that GO caused low cytotoxicity and did not induce cell apoptosis or change the cell cycle in multiple myeloma cells. Moreover, GO did not affect the antitumor activity of DOX. In conclusion, GO would be suitable as an anticancer drug nanocarrier and used to treat hematological malignancies.

Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Activation as the Main Mechanisms Underlying Graphene Toxicity against Human Cancer Cells

“…It would be best to use graphene as a delivery agent for water insoluble drugs, antigens, antibodies, or nucleic acids and unload therapeutic molecules selectively inside the cancer cells to impair their activity [ 57 , 58 ]. Use of graphene as a drug delivery agent has been recently the subject of numerous scientific researches [ 7 , 12 , 17 , 23 , 25 , 27 , 29 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 58 – 61 ]. However, the mechanisms of cellular uptake and modes of action are still under investigation.…”

“…Cells treated with GO were round with little cell shrinkage but with no typical apoptotic features. Annexin V-FITC/PI staining by flow cytometry showed no significant differences in the cell apoptotic rate between the untreated and GO-treated cells suggesting only slight cytotoxicity of GO [ 38 ].…”

Applications and toxicity of graphene family nanomaterials and their composites

“…Cell viability on graphene–carbon paste substrate was found to initially increase as graphene content increased from 0 to 2.5 wt%, but then decreased as the content increased further. Similarly, Wu et al 168 evaluated the cytotoxicity on human multiple myeloma cells (RPMI-8226) treated with GO, doxorubicin (DOX), and GO loaded with DOX (GO/DOX) and revealed that cells treated with GO, DOX, and GO/DOX for 24 hours showed a decrease in proliferation. GO/DOX was found to significantly inhibit cell proliferation as compared with pure DOX ( P <0.01).…”

Graphene Oxide-Modified Hydroxyapatite Nanocomposites in Biomedical Applications: A Review

“…The study conducted by Ma et al 2018 [103] investigated the interaction of GO with ubiquitin-proteasome system, found that GO-induced the inhibition activity of both purified 20S proteasome and proteasome in living cells. Computational techniques also demonstrated the blockage of central gate in the α-subunits for entry In contrarily, S. Wu et al 2014 [104] proved that low cytotoxicity of GO and did not affect the antitumor activity of doxorubicin (DOX) against human multiple myeloma cells (RPMI-8226). GO did not induce cell apoptosis and inhibited cell proliferation.…”