International Journal of Nanomedicine (Mar 2018)

Antitumor effect of a Pt-loaded nanocomposite based on graphene quantum dots combats hypoxia-induced chemoresistance of oral squamous cell carcinoma

  • Wei Z,
  • Yin XT,
  • Cai Y,
  • Xu WG,
  • Song CH,
  • Wang YF,
  • Zhang JW,
  • Kang A,
  • Wang ZY,
  • Han W

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 1505 – 1524

Abstract

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Zheng Wei,1,2,* Xiteng Yin,1,2,* Yu Cai,2,3 Wenguang Xu,1,2 Chuanhui Song,1,2 Yufeng Wang,1,2 Jingwei Zhang,4 An Kang,5 Zhiyong Wang,1,2 Wei Han1,2 1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Nanjing Stomatological Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China; 2Central Laboratory of Stomatology, Nanjing Stomatological Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China; 3Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics and Institute of Advanced Materials, Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China; 4Key Laboratory of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China; 5School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Tumor microenvironment plays an important role in the chemoresistance of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Hypoxia in the microenvironment is one of the important factors that contributes to OSCC chemoresistance; therefore overcoming hypoxia-mediated chemoresistance is one of the great challenges in clinical practice. Methods: In this study, we developed a drug delivery system based on Pt-loaded, polyethylene glycol-modified graphene quantum dots via chemical oxidation and covalent reaction. Results: Our results show that synthesized polyethylene glycol-graphene quantum dots-Pt (GPt) is about 5 nm in diameter. GPt sensitizes OSCC cells to its treatment in both normoxia and hypoxia conditions. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry assay shows that GPt enhances Pt accumulation in cells, which leads to a notable increase of S phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of OSCC cells in both normoxia and hypoxic conditions. Finally, compared with free cisplatin, GPt exhibits a strong inhibitory effect on the tumor growth with less systemic drug toxicity in an OSCC xenograft mouse tumor model. Conclusion: Taken together, our results show that GPt demonstrates superiority in combating hypoxia-induced chemoresistance. It might serve as a novel strategy for future microenvironment-targeted cancer therapy. Keywords: hypoxia tumor microenvironment, graphene oxide quantum dots, chemoresistance, Pt-loaded nanocomplexes, oral squamous cell carcinoma

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