Selective photothermal killing of cancer cells using LED-activated nucleus targeting fluorescent carbon dots

Abstract

Effective theranostic probes in cancer therapy are still a challenge. We report the selective killing of cancer cells upon photothermal ablation using a new class of 2,5-deoxyfructosazine-coated green-emissive carbon dots using mild LED-irradiation.

DNA-damage and cell cycle arrest initiated anti-cancer potency of super tiny carbon dots on MCF7 cell line

“…The slight decrease in cell damage for higher CD concentrations can also be explained with the same phenomena. Decreased nanoparticle accumulation in tumor cells at increased exposure times have been also reported by many other researchers which might decrease the effect of CDs on tumor cells 100 . Another explanation of the occurring plateau might be the DNA damage which leads cells either to a necrotic death or irreversibly committing those to apoptotic cell death which eventually reduces the proportion of the highly damaged cells 109 .…”

“…A comparison of the present study and previous literature is provided in Table 2. Most of the listed studies showed that negatively charged CDs with a size lower than 10 nm which can freely enter or interact with the nucleus while there are a couple of examples reporting nucleus targeting by larger sized CDs 47,92,100 , relatively few of them addressing the CD-induced anomalies in cell-cycle 49,108,110,111 . Our results suggest that CDs could have the potential as both drug carriers interacting with the cell-nucleus and therapeutic agents against tumor cells (Scheme 1).…”

“…Oleandrin extract (50 ppm) was, as expected, showed to be cytotoxic for both of the cells regardless of the time of the exposure. Although the main reason is not clear yet, higher tolerability of non-cancerous cells, decreased or retarded cellular accumulation of CDs in healthy cells as compared to the cancerous cells have been highlighted in many recent reports to explain the enhancement of the cell proliferation of healthy cells after the CD exposure 50 , 81 , 98 – 100 . Yao et al 101 showed that CDs specifically interact with some cellular proteins of tumor cells and downregulate the level of some proteins and the activity of enzymes that are related to tumor cell invasion ability.…”

“… 110 Citric acid and L-cysteine Hydrothermal 3–6.5 nm In vitro and in vivo luminescence lifetime thermometry Cell Type : NIH/3T3, Standard mouse, fibroblasts; HeLa, human cervical cancer cells Low cytotoxicity, No significant effect on the cell cycle of HeLa cells, Dose-dependent G0/G1 arrest slightly on NIH/3T3 cells Liu et al 92 Young Bearly Leaves Hydrothermal 1.9 and 2.7 nm (in EtoH) Cell nucleus Targeting and antiviral activity Cell Type : PK-15 and HeLa cells No significant cytotoxicity, the neutral charged CDs (b-CDs) were localized in the cytoplasm and showed anti-viral activity, while the negatively charged ones (c-CDs) distributed through the whole cell and nuclear localization was also observed. Nucleus targeting and imaging ability of CDs have been shown in vitro No genotoxicity evaluation Hill et al 100 Glucosamine-HCl and m-phenylenediamine Microwave 2.42 ± 0.55 nm LED-activated nucleus targeting and photothermal therapy Cell Type : HDF and HeLa cells Less cytotoxicity on HDF than HeLa cells, nuclear localization in HeLa cell line, Nucleus targeting and imaging ability have been shown in vitro. CDs-based or LED induced cell death of cancer cells were not found to be associated with ROS production No genotoxicity evaluation Zhang et al 112 Citric acid (CA), and propylene diamine (PDA) Hydrothermal 5 nm Cell nucleus labeling, cell-cycle imaging Cell Type : HeLa-229 and HCerEPic No significant cytotoxicity on both cell lines.…”

Electron/energy co-transfer behavior and reducibility of Cu-chlorophyllin-bonded carbon-dots

“…To achieve more remarkable performance, CDs are usually modied to couple with other materials, such as metal and nonmetal nanoparticles, [17][18][19][20][21][22] as well as organic and polymeric materials. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Shi et al synthesized core-shell Au@CDs NPs with a shell CD-thickness of ca. 2 nm through the direct reduction of HAuCl 4 by CDs, which enhanced surface Raman scattering measurements.…”