ICG-Conjugated magnetic graphene oxide for dual photothermal and photodynamic therapy

Abstract

Aptamer-functionalized magnetic graphene oxide conjugates loaded with indocyanine green (ICG) dye, or Apt@ICG@mGO, have been successfully developed for dual-targeted photothermal and photodynamic therapy. In general, a drug or its carrier or their dosage can be imprtant important issues in terms of toxicity. However, in this system, each component used is quite safe, biocompatibe and clean. For instance, ICG, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved near-infrared (NIR) dye, serves as both a photothermal and photodynamic agent. It is immobilized on the surface of mGO via a physical interaction called “π-π stacking”. The mGO, as a most biocomptible member of the carbo family, is selected for use as a platform for aptamer and ICG dye conjugation, as well as as a photothermal agent. The light in the near-infrared region (NIR) was chosen as a harmless light source for activating the agents for photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT). The magnetic properties of mGO are also used for separation of Apt@ICG@mGO conjugates from the reaction medium. Aptamer sgc8 acts as a targeting ligand to selectively and specifically bind to a protein on the membrane of cancer cell line CCRF-CEM. After the aptamer- functionalized ICG@mGO conjugates are incubated with target CEM cells at 37 °C for 2 hours, they are bound to cells or they may be internalized into the cell via endocytosis. More significantly, we demonstrated that the Apt@ICG@mGO conjugates produce heat for photothermal therapy (PTT) and singlet oxygen for photodynamic therapy (PDT) upon NIR laser irradiation at 808 nm. Thus, remarkably efficient cancer cell destructions with ~41% and ~60% and ~82% cell killing using 10, 50 and 100 ppm Apt@ICG@mGO, respectively are achieved in 5 min light exposure.

Improve ICG Based Photodynamic Properties Through Conjugation of ICG Into Nano-Graphene Oxide Against Enterococcus faecalis

“…On the other hand, ICG was proposed as PS for its NIR wavelength absorbance at about 800 nm, considering the optical efficacy of laser at NIR wavelength (810 nm) to reduce the E. faecalis count in the RCS (32). In addition, this wavelength has a higher depth of penetration compared with red lasers used to produce toluidine blue and methylene blue (22), and is therefore, more effective to eliminate root canal pathogens. Since evidence suggested that the ICG had limitations to eliminate microorganisms residing in the root canal, the system application is limited (7); therefore, it was decided to investigate this issue after addressing and modifying its limitations.…”

“…A good candidate is indocyanine green (ICG) as an amphiphilic dye, also known as CardioGreen®, as the only food and drug administration (FDA)-approved PS (19), with the unique peak absorbance at 780 nm (20,21). Most PSs such as ICG, have limitations such as little photostability and concentration-related aggregation (21,22). Therefore, there is a growing interest to develop nanomaterials with higher PDT efficacy considering the improved near infrared (NIR)-absorption, stability, and photo-thermal conversion efficiency (21).…”

Comprehensive Application of Graphene: Emphasis on Biomedical Concerns

“…Molecular dynamic simulation studies showed that basic amino acid residues (arginine and lysine) and aromatic residues (tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine) play a key role in binding the protein onto the surface of graphene Porphyrin-GO -U87-MG cells Photothermal therapy; brain cancer treatment [67] Aptamer-magnetic GO Indocyanine green CCRF-CEM Photothermal, photodynamic therapy [70] GO-fullerene C60 -HeLa cells Photothermal, photodynamic therapy [72] RGO-Ru-PEG Ru(II)-polypyridyl complex A549 cells Multifunctional imaging and phototherapy [73] NGO-UCNP-Ce6 Ce6 HeLa cells; U14 tumor bearing mice Up-conversion luminescence imaging and PDT/PTT [76] Polypyrrole nitrogen-doped fewlayer graphene (PPy-NDFLG)…”

Targeted Nanomaterials for Phototherapy

“…Aptamer conjugated nanoparticles were selectively internalized and when the co-cultured cells were treated with laser, NB-4 cells (control) remained viable whereas CEM cell line viability decreased exhibiting targeting specificity of aptamers. ICG loaded magnetic graphene oxide conjugates have been explored for synergistic PDT and PTT treatment 199 . sgc8 DNA Aptamers conjugated to magnetic GO served as ligands.…”