Red-Emissive Carbon Quantum Dots for Nuclear Drug Delivery in Cancer Stem Cells

Large doses of anticancer drugs entering cancer cell nuclei are found to be effective at killing cancer cells and increasing chemotherapeutic effectiveness. Here we report red-emissive carbon quantum dots, which can enter into the nuclei of not only cancer cells but also cancer stem cells. After dox...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of physical chemistry letters 2020-02, Vol.11 (4), p.1357-1363
Main Authors: Su, Wen, Guo, Ruihua, Yuan, Fanglong, Li, Yunchao, Li, Xiaohong, Zhang, Yang, Zhou, Shixin, Fan, Louzhen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Carbon - chemistry
Cell Nucleus - metabolism
Cell Survival - drug effects
Doxorubicin - chemistry
Doxorubicin - metabolism
Doxorubicin - pharmacology
Doxorubicin - therapeutic use
Drug Carriers - chemistry
HeLa Cells
Humans
Mice
Mice, Nude
Microscopy, Confocal
Neoplasms - drug therapy
Neoplasms - pathology
Neoplastic Stem Cells - cytology
Neoplastic Stem Cells - drug effects
Neoplastic Stem Cells - metabolism
Quantum Dots - chemistry
Transplantation, Heterologous
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Large doses of anticancer drugs entering cancer cell nuclei are found to be effective at killing cancer cells and increasing chemotherapeutic effectiveness. Here we report red-emissive carbon quantum dots, which can enter into the nuclei of not only cancer cells but also cancer stem cells. After doxorubicin was loaded at the concentration of 30 μg/mL on the surfaces of carbon quantum dots, the average cell viability of HeLa cells was decreased to only 21%, while it was decreased to 50% for free doxorubicin. The doxorubicin-loaded carbon quantum dots also exhibited a good therapeutic effect by eliminating cancer stem cells. This work provides a potential strategy for developing carbon quantum-dot-based anticancer drug carriers for effective eradication of cancers.
ISSN:1948-7185
1948-7185
DOI:10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b03891