SERMET-SCTI, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain.
ACS Nano. 2012 Aug 28;6(8):6614-25. doi: 10.1021/nn302222m. Epub 2012 Jul 12.
Microtubules are hollow protein cylinders of 25 nm diameter which are implicated in cytokinetics and proliferation in all eukaryotic cells. Here we demonstrate in vivo how multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) interact with microtubules in human cancer cells (HeLa) blocking mitosis and leading to cell death by apoptosis. Our data suggest that, inside the cells, MWCNTs display microtubule biomimetic properties, assisting and enhancing noncentrosomal microtubule polymerization and stabilization. These features might be useful for developing a revolutionary generation of chemotherapeutic agents based on nanomaterials.
微管是直径为 25nm 的中空蛋白圆柱，与所有真核细胞的细胞动力学和增殖有关。在这里，我们在体内证明了多壁碳纳米管（MWCNTs）如何与人类癌细胞（HeLa）中的微管相互作用，阻止有丝分裂并通过细胞凋亡导致细胞死亡。我们的数据表明，在细胞内，MWCNTs 表现出微管仿生特性，辅助和增强非中心体微管聚合和稳定。这些特性可能有助于开发基于纳米材料的新一代化疗药物。
