Graphene quantum dots-gated hollow mesoporous carbon nanoplatform for targeting drug delivery and synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy

Abstract

BackgroundCarbon-based drug delivery systems have attracted great interest because of their excellent photothermal conversion capability and high specific surface area for drug loading. Herein, we report a multifunctional nanoplatform based on hyaluronic acid (HA)-modified and graphene quantum dot (GQD)-gated hollow mesoporous carbon nanoparticle (HMCN) for anticancer drug encapsulation and targeted chemo-photothermal therapy of CD44 receptor-overexpressed cancer cells.MethodsIn this design, HMCN was not only used as a nanocarrier with high drug loading content to achieve chemotherapy, but also as a near-infrared absorbing agent to realize photothermal therapy. GQDs could not only prevent premature drug release during blood circulation, but also enhance the chemo-photothermal therapeutic efficacy for complete tumor growth suppression. After being modified with HA, the HA-HMCN(DOX)@GQDs could specifically target cancer cells.ResultsAs expected, the as-prepared HMCN exhibited high doxorubicin (DOX)-loading capacity of 410 mg/g and excellent light-to-heat conversion property. The DOX was released from HA-HMCN(DOX)@GQDs in a near-infrared laser and pH stimuli-responsive manner, which could enhance the therapeutic effect. In vitro cell biological experimental results confirmed that the nanoplatform possesses excellent biocompatibility, specifically target CD44 receptor-overexpressing human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells, and has remarkable synergistic chemo-photothermal killing capacity. The in vivo therapeutic studies in HeLa xenografts also showed negligible toxicity of HA-HMCN@GQDs and complete inhibition of tumor growth of HA-HMCN(DOX) @GQDs with near-infrared irradiation.ConclusionThe excellent therapeutic effects demonstrated in vitro and in vivo suggested the HMCN-based nanoplatform holds potential for efficient dual-responsive targeting drug delivery and synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy.

Carbon and graphene quantum dots: a review on syntheses, characterization, biological and sensing applications for neurotransmitter determination

“…100,101 Fang et al developed a multi functional nano platform on the basis of the hyaluronic acid (HA) modied and GQDs gated hollow mesoporous carbon NPs (HMCN) to encapsulation of an anti cancer medicine (Doxorubicin (DOX)). 102 Therefore, the researchers focused on the chemophoto thermal treatment of the cancer cells with over expressed CD44 receptor. Fig.…”

“…In addition, in vivo experiments demonstrated improvement in antitumor effects of the HA-HMCN(DOX)@ GQDs under the NIR irradiations. 102 Ghosh et al synthesized CDs using renewable sources and conjugated them with the polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers in a variety of generations. Out of the CD-PAMAM conjugates (CDPs), the CDP3 revealed better gene protection and complexation abilities in opposition of the enzymatic digestion.…”

“…Reprinted with permission. 102 Copyright 2018, Dovepress. system with regard to low acidic pH in the cancer cells that is readily entered to the nucleus (Fig.…”

Synthesis of graphene quantum dots and their applications in drug delivery

“…In recent years, the applications of GQDs in drug delivery [123][124][125][126][127], sensors [128][129][130][131][132][133][134], bio-imaging [10,63,[135][136][137][138][139][140], magnetic hyperthermia [141][142][143], photothermal therapy [144][145][146][147][148], antibacterial [145,149,150], catalyst [69,[151][152][153][154][155], environmental protection [38,156,157], and energy [158][159][160][161][162][163] has made remarkable accomplishment. In order to better apply GQDs to drug delivery, some researchers had used density functional theory (DFT) calculations [164]…”

Development andin vitrosafety evaluation of pramipexole-loaded hollow mesoporous silica (HMS) particles

“…Systems based on mesoporous silica have been reported as dual pH-responsive mesoporous silica nanoparticles for efficient combination of chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy redox-triggered, enzymatic dependent and temperature responsive drug-delivery systems [18][19][20][21][22]. Hollow mesoporous silica particles (HMS) have been developed as a new class of micro-and nanocapsules based on mesoporous silica material with a wide range of practical applications, including catalysis, confined synthesis, environmental protection and controlled release [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. In recent years, HMS particles have been widely explored as stimuli-responsive carriers [33][34][35][36][37].…”