Conjugation of doxorubicin and carbon based-nanostructures for drug delivery against HT-29 colon cancer cells

Many nanomaterials have been used as novel carriers for cancer therapy. Among them, carbon based-nanomaterials have been extensively used in biological applications. We reported platforms based on graphene oxide (GO), ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) to conjugate with doxorubicin (DOX). The conjugation of DOX with carbon nanomaterial was investigated by UV-Vis spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) methods. We showed that graphene oxide was a highly efficient matrix. Efficient loading of DOX, 89%, 78%, and 73.5% at pH 7.0 was seen onto GO, OMC and CNT, respectively. Upon pH 4. 0 after 15 h, 69%, 61% and 61% of DOX could be released from the DOX-GO, DOX-OMC and DOX-CNT, respectively, which illustrated the significant benefits of the developed approach for carbon nanomaterial applications. In addition, the study evaluated the cytotoxicity effect of DOX-GO, DOX-OMC and DOX-CNT on HT29 colon cancer cell lines. Cytotoxicity tests showed significantly higher toxicity of DOX/GO, DOX/OMC and DOX/CNT in comparison with GO, OMC and CNT against HT29 colon cancer cells with cell viability of 22%, 40% and 44% after 48 h for DOX-GO, DOX-OMC and DOX-CNT, respectively. Thus, developing nanohybrids based on carbon nanomaterial conjugated to DOX will remarkably enhance the anti-cancer activity.