Design an‎d synthesis of graphene-coated quantum dots for brain tumor (Glioblastoma Multiforme) diagnosis an‎d treatment

12/22/2025 12:00:00 AM

Glioblastoma multiforme is an aggressive brain tumor with a poor prognosis, which is protected by an intrinsic resistance to therapy an‎d a protective blood-brain barrier. A novel nanotherapeutic has been developed to address these challenges: graphene quantum dots loaded with temozolomide, erlotinib, an‎d vitamin D3 an‎d functionalized with apotransferrin to cross the blood-brain barrier to target. Graphene quantum dots were generated by hydrothermal carbonization of citric acid an‎d loaded with the three drugs via chemical conjugation an‎d noncovalent adsorption, followed by EDC/NHS-mediated transferrin linkage. The resulting graphene quantum dot-apotransferrin nanocarrier exhibits uniform size (hydrodynamic diameter of about 45 nm), low dispersion (≈ PDI = 0.18), an‎d relatively negative zeta potential, indicating good colloidal stability. This nanocarrier encapsulated all three agents with high efficiency (95-98% calculated based on HPLC quantification of unbound drugs in the supernatant) an‎d remained stable at physiological pH (minimum release at pH=7.4). Under acidic conditions (pH ≈ 5), the carrier released the drugs sequentially (first vitamin D3, then erlotinib, an‎d finally temozolomide), indicating pH-controlled behavior. In vitro, a specific nanocarrier that binds to transferrin is taken up by glioma cells an‎d exhibits a combined toxic effect that exceeds that of the free drugs an‎d non-targeted versions. This platform, which targets an‎d delivers three drugs to receptors, integrates mechanisms such as DNA alkylation, EGFR potency, an‎d promotion of cell differentiation with a pH-sensitive pathway system to attack glioblastoma multiforme cells directly. These results indicate that the combination of apotransferrin-graphene quantum dots, temozolomide, erlotinib, an‎d vitamin D3 graphene quantum dots offers a promising can‎didate for drug treatment in glioblastoma multiforme an‎d is more suitable for in vivo investigation.

گرافن كوانتوم دات , گليوبلاستوما مولتي فرم

graphene quantum dot , Glioblastoma multiforme

Armin Hajipoor keyvani

Beheshte Sohrabi