Antimicrobial, anticancer, and biofilm inhibition studies of highly reduced graphene oxide (HRG): In vitro and in silico analysis

• Published in: Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology 2023-03, Vol.11, p.1149588
• Main Authors: Alangari, Abdulaziz, Mateen, Ayesha, Alqahtani, Mohammed S, Shahid, Mudassar, Syed, Rabbani, Shaik, Mohammed Rafi, Khan, Mujeeb, Adil, Syed Farooq, Kuniyil, Mufsir
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: anticancer; antimicrobial; Bioengineering and Biotechnology; highly reduced graphene oxide; in vitro; insilco
• ISSN: 2296-4185; 2296-4185
• DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1149588

: Bacterial infections and cancers may cause various acute or chronic diseases, which have become serious global health issues. This requires suitable alternatives involving novel and efficient materials to replace ineffective existing therapies. In this regard, graphene composites are being continuously explored for a variety of purposes, including biomedical applications, due to their remarkable properties. Herein, we explore, , the different biological properties of highly reduced graphene oxide (HRG), including anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, and anti-biofilm properties. Furthermore, to analyze the interactions of graphene with proteins of microbes, docking analysis was also carried out. To do this, HRG was prepared using graphene oxide as a precursor, which was further chemically reduced to obtain the final product. The as-prepared HRG was characterized using different types of microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The HRG revealed significant cytotoxic ability, using a dose-dependent anti-cell proliferation approach, which substantially killed human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) with IC of 29.51 ± 2.68 μg/mL. The HRG demonstrated efficient biological properties, i.e., even at low concentrations, HRG exhibited efficient anti-microbial properties against a variety of microorganisms. Among the different strains, Gram-positive bacteria, such as B. , MRSA, and S. are more sensitive to HRG compared to Gram-negative bacteria. The bactericidal properties of HRG are almost similar to a commercially available effective antibiotic (ampicillin). To evaluate the efficacy of HRG against bacterial biofilms and MRSA were applied, and the results were compared with gentamycin and ampicillin, which are commonly applied standard antibiotics. Notably, HRG demonstrated high inhibition (94.23%) against , with lower MIC (50 μg/mL) and IC (26.53 μg/mL) values, whereas ampicillin and gentamicin showed similar inhibition (90.45% and 91.31% respectively) but much higher MIC and IC values. Therefore, these results reveal the excellent biopotential of HRG in different biomedical applications, including cancer therapy; antimicrobial activity, especially anti-biofilm activity; and other biomedicine-based therapies. Based on the molecular docking results of Binding energy, it is predicted that pelB protein and HRG would form the best stable docking complex, and high hydrogen and hydrophobic interactions between the pelB protein and HRG have been revealed. Therefore, we conclude that