Abstract
Graphene and graphene-based nanomaterials such as graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have gained a lot of attention from diverse scientific fields for applications in sensing, catalysis, nanoelectronics, material engineering, energy storage and biomedicine due to its unique structural, optical, electrical and mechanical properties. Graphene-based nanomaterials emerge as a novel class of nanomedicine for cancer therapy for several reasons. Firstly, its structural properties like high surface area and aromaticity enables easy loading of hydrophobic drugs. Secondly, presence of oxygen containing functional groups improve its physiological stability and also act as site for biofunctionalization. Thirdly, its optical absorption in the NIR region enable them to act as photoagents for photothermal and photodynamic therapies of cancer, both in vitro and in vivo. Finally, its intrinsic fluorescence property helps in bioimaging of cancer cells. Overall, graphene-based nanomaterials can act as agents for developing multifunctional theranostic platforms for carrying out more efficient detection and treatment of cancers. This review provides a detailed summary of the different applications of graphene-based nanomaterials in drug delivery, nucleic acid delivery, phototherapy, bioimaging and theranostics.
Highlights
With its discovery in the year 2002 followed by a Nobel prize in Physics in 2010, graphene has attracted a lot of attention from diverse scienticelds for applications in sensing, catalysis, nanoelectronics, material engineering, energy storage and biomedicine
PEGylation followed by loading of the photosensitizer zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) onto these nanoparticles resulted in the formation of biocompatible ZnPc-PEG-Au@graphene oxide nanocolloid (GON) nano-theranostic platforms, that demonstrated enhanced photo-therapeutic e®ects on HeLa cells due to the combination of photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT), and at the same time acted as an e±cient Raman probe for in vitro bioimaging of cells
We provide a systematic and detailed overview regarding the current progress on the di®erent biomedical applications of graphene-based nanomaterials in theeld of drug delivery, gene delivery, phototherapy, bioimaging and combined therapeutic and theranostic approaches in a highly categorized manner
Summary
With its discovery in the year 2002 followed by a Nobel prize in Physics in 2010, graphene has attracted a lot of attention from diverse scienticelds for applications in sensing, catalysis, nanoelectronics, material engineering, energy storage and biomedicine. These materials provide a distribution of delocalized electrons on the surface giving it an aromatic character, that help in increasing the loading and binding e±ciency of graphene-based nanomaterials with other molecules of therapeutic interest through hydrophobic interactions and – stacking.[5] The synthesis procedures of GO introduce wide variety of oxygen containing functional groups like carboxyl, hydroxyl, carbonyl, ethoxy, epoxy, etc., on both planes of GO sheets, thereby increasing its stability in aqueous solutions This provides easy functionalization and derivatization of these materials through both covalent and non-covalent modications with di®erent biocompatible polymers like PEG, chitosan and conjugation with targeting moieties like peptides and antibodies, to develop biofunctionalized nanocomposite systems with improved biological properties.[5,8,9] Apart from these surface properties, GO and rGO possess exciting intrinsic optical properties like photoluminescence and increased absorbance in the near-infrared region (NIR) of electromagnetic spectrum, that make them excellent photo-responsive agents for cancer therapies like photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT).[5] Similar to plasmonic nanomaterials, GO and rGO show photothermal conversion properties in response to NIR irradiation that has been widely explored as a therapeutic strategy for treating cancers. The main objective of this review is to make the readers understand the evolution of graphene as a nanomedicine over the years and appreciate the immense potential that this nanomaterial holds for the future
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