Nanomedicine Group, Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh 33516, Egypt.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Oct 31;23(21):13283. doi: 10.3390/ijms232113283.
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is an important sub-type of lung cancer associated with poor diagnosis and therapy. Innovative multi-functional systems are urgently needed to overcome the invasiveness of NSCLC. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) derived from natural sources have received interest for their potential in medical bio-imaging due to their unique properties, which are characterized by their water solubility, biocompatibility, simple synthesis, and low cytotoxicity. In the current study, ethylene-diamine doped CQDs enhanced their cytotoxicity (98 ± 0.4%, 97 ± 0.38%, 95.8 ± 0.15%, 86 ± 0.15%, 12.5 ± 0.14%) compared to CQDs alone (99 ± 0.2%, 98 ± 1.7%, 96 ± 0.8%, 93 ± 0.38%, 91 ± 1.3%) at serial concentrations (0.1, 1, 10, 100, 1000 μg/mL). In order to increase their location in a specific tumor site, folic acid was used to raise their functional folate recognition. The apoptotic feature of A549 lung cells exposed to N-CQDs and FA-NCQDs was characterized by a light orange-red color under fluorescence microscopy. Additionally, much nuclear fragmentation and condensation were seen. Flow cytometry results showed that the percentage of cells in late apoptosis and necrosis increased significantly in treated cells to (19.7 ± 0.03%), (27.6 ± 0.06%) compared to untreated cells (4.6 ± 0.02%), (3.5 ± 0.02%), respectively. Additionally, cell cycle arrest showed a strong reduction in cell numbers in the S phase (14 ± 0.9%) compared to untreated cells (29 ± 0.5%). Caspase-3 levels were increased significantly in A549 exposed to N-CQDs (2.67 ± 0.2 ng/mL) and FA-NCQDs (3.43 ± 0.05 ng/mL) compared to untreated cells (0.34 ± 0.04 ng/mL). The functionalization of CQDs derived from natural sources has proven their potential application to fight off non-small lung cancer.
非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）是一种与诊断和治疗效果不佳相关的重要肺癌亚型。为了克服 NSCLC 的侵袭性，迫切需要创新的多功能系统。源于天然物质的碳量子点（CQDs）因其独特的性质，如水溶性、生物相容性、简单的合成和低细胞毒性，而在医学生物成像方面具有潜在的应用价值，引起了人们的关注。在本研究中，与 CQDs 相比，乙二胺掺杂的 CQDs 增强了其细胞毒性（98 ± 0.4%、97 ± 0.38%、95.8 ± 0.15%、86 ± 0.15%、12.5 ± 0.14%），浓度分别为（0.1、1、10、100、1000μg/mL）。为了增加它们在特定肿瘤部位的定位，使用叶酸来提高它们的功能性叶酸识别。在荧光显微镜下，暴露于 N-CQDs 和 FA-NCQDs 的 A549 肺细胞的凋亡特征呈现出浅橙红色。此外，还观察到大量核碎片和浓缩。流式细胞术结果表明，与未处理的细胞（4.6 ± 0.02%、3.5 ± 0.02%）相比，处理过的细胞中晚期凋亡和坏死的细胞百分比显著增加，分别为（19.7 ± 0.03%）、（27.6 ± 0.06%）。此外，细胞周期停滞显示 S 期细胞数量明显减少（14 ± 0.9%），而未处理的细胞为 29 ± 0.5%。与未处理的细胞（0.34 ± 0.04 ng/mL）相比，暴露于 N-CQDs 的 A549 细胞（2.67 ± 0.2 ng/mL）和 FA-NCQDs（3.43 ± 0.05 ng/mL）中的 caspase-3 水平显著升高。源于天然物质的 CQDs 的功能化已证明其在对抗非小细胞肺癌方面的潜在应用。
