Yunus U, Zulfiqar MA, Ajmal M, Bhatti MH, Chaudhry GES, Muhammad TST, Sung YY. Targeted drug delivery systems: synthesis and in vitro bioactivity and apoptosis studies of gemcitabine-carbon dot conjugates.
Biomed Mater 2020;
15:065004. [PMID:
32442994 DOI:
10.1088/1748-605x/ab95e1]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/09/2022]
Abstract
Gemcitabine (GEM) is used to treat various cancers such as breast, pancreatic, non-small lung, ovarian, bladder, and cervical cancers. GEM, however, has the problem of non-selectivity. Water-soluble, fluorescent, and mono-dispersed carbon dots (CDs) were fabricated by ultrasonication of sucrose. The CDs were further conjugated with GEM through amide linkage. The physical and morphological properties of these carbon dot-gemcitabine (CD-GEM) conjugates were determined using different analytical techniques. In vitro cytotoxicity and apoptosis studies of CD-GEM conjugates were evaluated by various bioactivity assays on human cell lines, MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma), and HeLa (cervical cancer) cell lines. The results of kinetic studies have shown a maximum drug loading efficacy of 17.0 mg of GEM per 50.0 mg of CDs. The CDs were found biocompatible, and the CD-GEM conjugates exhibited excellent bioactivity and exerted potent cytotoxicity against tumor cells with an IC50 value of 19.50 μg ml-1 in HeLa cells, which is lower than the IC50 value of pure GEM (∼20.10 μg ml-1). In vitro studies on CD-GEM conjugates demonstrated the potential to replace the conventional administration of GEM. CD-GEM conjugates are more stable, have a higher aqueous solubility, and are more cytotoxic as compared to GEM alone. The CD-GEM conjugates show reduced side effects in the normal cells along with excellent cellular uptake. Hence, CD-GEM conjugates are more selective toward cancerous cell lines as compared to non-cancerous cells. Also, the CD-GEM conjugates successfully induced early and late apoptosis in cancer cell lines and might be effective and safe to use for in vivo applications.
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