Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory, Heinrich-Heine-University, D-40204, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Department of Haematology, Oncology and Clinical Immunology, Heinrich-Heine-University, D-40204, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2019 Aug 19;9(1):12028. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48567-6.
Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are a promising next generation nanomaterial with manifold biomedical applications. For real world applications, comprehensive studies on their influence on the functionality of primary human cells are mandatory. Here, we report the effects of GQDs on the transcriptome of CD34 hematopoietic stem cells after an incubation time of 36 hours. Of the 20 800 recorded gene expressions, only one, namely the selenoprotein W, 1, is changed by the GQDs in direct comparison to CD34 hematopoietic stem cells cultivated without GQDs. Only a meta analysis reveals that the expression of 1171 genes is weakly affected, taking into account the more prominent changes just by the cell culture. Eight corresponding, weakly affected signaling pathways are identified, which include, but are not limited to, the triggering of apoptosis. These results suggest that GQDs with sizes in the range of a few nanometers hardly influence the CD34 cells on the transcriptome level after 36 h of incubation, thereby demonstrating their high usability for in vivo studies, such as fluorescence labeling or delivery protocols, without strong effects on the functional status of the cells.
石墨烯量子点 (GQDs) 是一种很有前途的下一代纳米材料，在多种生物医学应用中具有广泛的应用。对于实际应用，必须对它们对原代人细胞功能的影响进行全面研究。在这里，我们报告了 GQDs 在 36 小时孵育后对 CD34 造血干细胞转录组的影响。在记录的 20800 个基因表达中，只有一个，即硒蛋白 W1，在与未用 GQDs 培养的 CD34 造血干细胞直接比较时，被 GQDs 改变。只有通过元分析才能发现，考虑到仅仅通过细胞培养就会出现更明显的变化，有 1171 个基因的表达受到微弱影响。确定了 8 个相应的、受影响较弱的信号通路，其中包括但不限于触发细胞凋亡。这些结果表明，在孵育 36 小时后，粒径在几纳米范围内的 GQDs 几乎不会影响 CD34 细胞的转录组水平，从而证明它们在体内研究中具有很高的可用性，例如荧光标记或输送方案，而不会对细胞的功能状态产生强烈影响。
