Orange-Peel-Derived Nanobiochar for Targeted Cancer Therapy
Daniela Iannazzo,
Consuelo Celesti,
Claudia Espro,
Angelo Ferlazzo,
Salvatore V. Giofrè,
Mario Scuderi,
Silvia Scalese,
Bartolo Gabriele,
Raffaella Mancuso,
Ida Ziccarelli,
Giuseppa Visalli,
Angela Di Pietro
Affiliations
Daniela Iannazzo
Department of Engineering, University of Messina, Contrada Di Dio, 98166 Messina, Italy
Consuelo Celesti
Department of Engineering, University of Messina, Contrada Di Dio, 98166 Messina, Italy
Claudia Espro
Department of Engineering, University of Messina, Contrada Di Dio, 98166 Messina, Italy
Angelo Ferlazzo
Department of Engineering, University of Messina, Contrada Di Dio, 98166 Messina, Italy
Salvatore V. Giofrè
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres, 98166 Messina, Italy
Mario Scuderi
Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems, National Research Council (CNR-IMM), Ottava Strada n.5, 95121 Catania, Italy
Silvia Scalese
Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems, National Research Council (CNR-IMM), Ottava Strada n.5, 95121 Catania, Italy
Bartolo Gabriele
Laboratory of Industrial and Synthetic Organic Chemistry (LISOC), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci 12/C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy
Raffaella Mancuso
Laboratory of Industrial and Synthetic Organic Chemistry (LISOC), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci 12/C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy
Ida Ziccarelli
Laboratory of Industrial and Synthetic Organic Chemistry (LISOC), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci 12/C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy
Giuseppa Visalli
Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Images, University Hospital of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 1, 98100 Messina, Italy
Angela Di Pietro
Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Images, University Hospital of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 1, 98100 Messina, Italy
Cancer-targeted drug delivery systems (DDS) based on carbon nanostructures have shown great promise in cancer therapy due to their ability to selectively recognize specific receptors overexpressed in cancer cells. In this paper, we have explored a green route to synthesize nanobiochar (NBC) endowed with graphene structure from the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of orange peels and evaluated the suitability of this nanomaterial as a nanoplatform for cancer therapy. In order to compare the cancer-targeting ability of different widely used targeting ligands (TL), we have conjugated NBC with biotin, riboflavin, folic acid and hyaluronic acid and have tested, in vitro, their biocompatibility and uptake ability towards a human alveolar cancer cell line (A549 cells). The nanosystems which showed the best biological performances—namely, the biotin- and riboflavin- conjugated systems—have been loaded with the poorly water-soluble drug DHF (5,5-dimethyl-6a-phenyl-3-(trimethylsilyl)-6,6a-dihydrofuro[3,2-b]furan-2(5H)-one) and tested for their anticancer activity. The in vitro biological tests demonstrated the ability of both systems to internalize the drug in A549 cells. In particular, the biotin-functionalized NBC caused cell death percentages to more than double with respect to the drug alone. The reported results also highlight the positive effect of the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups, present on the NBC surface, to improve the water dispersion stability of the DDS and thus make the approach of using this nanomaterial as nanocarrier for poorly water-soluble drugs effective.
