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Functional carbon-based materials as drug delivery systems or bioimaging agents

Carbon-based nanomaterials modified with functional dendritic polymers were developed.1-3 Specifically, cationic hydrophilic dendritic polymers induce, through appropriate interactions, excellent and stable dispersions of carbon nanotubes and carbon nanodisks in aqueous media. These nanomaterials were physicochemically characterized by a variety of physicochemical methods and subsequently were evaluated as controlled release drug delivery systems.4-6 

Confocal images depicting doxorubicin (DOX) cell internalization in DU145 and HEK293 cells incubated with DOX-loaded multi-walled carbon nanotubes decorated with guanidinylated hyperbranched polyethyleneimine derivatives of 5000 and 25000 Da molecular weight (oxCNTs@GPEI5K or oxCNTs@GPEI25K) or free DOX.

Additionally, functionalized highly fluorescent carbon dots have been developed and evaluated for mitochondrial subcellular localization and bioimaging agents.7

Mitochondriotropic carbon dots exhibit selective uptake in malignant cells compared to normal cells.

Selected publications

  1. T. Tsoufis, F. Katsaros, Z. Sideratou, B. J. Kooi, M. A. Karakassides, A. Siozos, Intercalation study of low molecular weight hyperbranched polyethyleneimine into graphene oxide. Chem. Eur. J. 20, 8129-8137 (2014).
  2. T. Tsoufis, F. Katsaros, Z. Sideratou, G. Romanos, O. Ivashenko, P. Rudolf,  B. J. Kooi, S. Papageorgiou, M. A. Karakassides, Tailor-made graphite oxide–DAB poly(propylene imine) dendrimer intercalated hybrids and their potential for efficient CO2 adsorption. Chem. Commun. 50, 10967-10970 (2014).
  3. T. Tsoufis, Z. Syrgiannis, N. Akhtar, M. Prato, F. Katsaros, Z. Sideratou, A. Kouloumpis, D. Gournis, and P. Rudolf, In-situ growth of capping-free magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles on liquid-phase exfoliated graphene, Nanoscale 7, 8995-9003 (2015).
  4. P. Zygouri, T. Tsoufis, A. Kouloumpis, M. Patila, G. Potsi, A.A. Sevastos, Z. Sideratou, F. Katsaros, G. Charalambopoulou, H. Stamatis, P. Rudolf, T.A. Steriotis, D. Gournis, Synthesis, characterization and assessment of hydrophilic oxidized carbon nanodiscs in bio-related applications, RSC Adv. 8, 122-131 (2018). DOI: 10.1039/C7RA11045F.
  5. P. Zygouri, K. Spyrou, E. Mitsari, M. Barrio, R. Macovez, M. Patila, H. Stamatis, I. I. Verginadis, A.P. Velalopoulou, A.M. Evangelou, Z. Sideratou, D. Gournis, P. Rudolf, A facile approach to hydrophilic oxidized fullerenes and their derivatives as cytotoxic agents and supports for nanobiocatalytic systems. Scientific Reports 10, 8244 (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-65117-7.
  6. K.-M. Lyra, A. Kaminari, K. N. Panagiotaki, K. Spyrou, S. Papageorgiou, E. Sakellis, F. K. Katsaros, Z. Sideratou, Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Decorated with Guanidinylated Dendritic Molecular Transporters: An Efficient Platform for the Selective Anticancer Activity of Doxorubicin. Pharmaceutics 13, 858 (2021). DOI:10.3390/pharmaceutics13060858.
  7. A. Kaminari, E. Nikoli, A. Athanasopoulos, E. Sakellis, Z. Sideratou, D. Tsiourvas, Engineering Mitochondriotropic Carbon Dots for Targeting Cancer Cells. Pharmaceuticals 14, 932 (2021). DOI: 10.3390/ph14090932.

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