Graphene quantum dots-loaded macrophages as a biomimetic delivery system for bioimaging and photodynamic therapy

Innovative approaches for cancer treatment: graphene quantum dots for photodynamic and photothermal therapies

“…3). 42 Macrophages have the ability to encapsulate drugs and NPs via a phagocytosis method and deliver them to the microenvironment of cancer tissue due to the inflammatory reaction. Indeed, tumor-associated macrophages are among the cells that are responsible for the tumor progression, which are attracted to the tumor tissue in its pre-invasion stage, and so they are good candidates for delivering therapeutic compounds into the microenvironment of cancer.…”

“…Results of this study demonstrated that GQD-loaded macrophages could accumulate inside the tumor tissue after 6 h of injection and could completely destroy the lung cancer tissue after 72 h. They induced apoptosis via increasing the intracellular amounts of Ca 2+ ions through inducing the release of intracellular Ca 2+ ions outside cells, resulting from the PDT effect. 42 GQDs covered with hollow mesoporous silica NPs (GQDs/ hMSNs) were fabricated by Dong et al and were used for the chemo-PDT using doxorubicin (DOX) as the chemotherapeutic compound. The 1 O 2 generation by the GQDs was evaluated in different media for both free GQDs and GQDs/hMSNs, which confirmed the effectiveness of the presence of ionic compounds in reducing the amounts of 1 O 2 generated.…”

“…Results of this study demonstrated that GQD-loaded macrophages could accumulate inside the tumor tissue after 6 h of injection and could completely destroy the lung cancer tissue after 72 h. They induced apoptosis via increasing the intracellular amounts of Ca 2+ ions through inducing the release of intracellular Ca 2+ ions outside cells, resulting from the PDT effect. 42…”