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Nano Research 2017, 10(7): 2280-2295 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1418-x
Research Article | Issue | Published: 20 April 2017

Positively charged graphene/Fe3O4/polyethylenimine with enhanced drug loading and cellular uptake for magnetic resonance imaging and magnet-responsive cancer therapy

Show Author's Information Baoji Du1,2,  Jianhua Liu3,6,  Guanyu Ding1,  Xu Han1,  Dan Li1( ),  Erkang Wang1( ),  Jin Wang1,4,5( )
State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical ChemistryChangchun Institute of Applied ChemistryChinese Academy of SciencesChangchun130022China
University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing100039China
Department of Radiologythe Second Hospital of Jilin UniversityChangchun130041China
College of PhysicsJilin UniversityChangchun130012China
Department of Chemistry and Physics, State University of New York at Stony BrookNY11794-3400USA
State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative ChemistryCollege of ChemistryJilin UniversityChangchun130012China
Keywords:
magnetic resonance imaging, drug delivery, photothermal therapy, surface charge, synergistic therapy, low laser density
Cite this article:
Du B, Liu J, Ding G, et al. Positively charged graphene/Fe3O4/polyethylenimine with enhanced drug loading and cellular uptake for magnetic resonance imaging and magnet-responsive cancer therapy. Nano Research, 2017, 10(7): 2280-2295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1418-x
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Enhanced cellular uptake efficiency of nanoparticles is important for their biomedical applications, including photothermal therapy (PTT) for cancer. In this study, a one-pot method was used to construct a positively charged and magnet-responsive nanocomposite comprising reduced graphene oxide anchoring iron oxide (RGI) with a polyethylenimine (PEI) modification, to improve the efficiency of cell internalization. The surface charge can be finely tuned using PEIs of different molecular weights. The obtained RGI1.8k composite (RGI modified by 1.8 kDa PEI) could load indocyanine green (ICG) at a high mass ratio of 10:3 and ablate cancer cells using low-density laser irradiation because of its positively charged surface. In addition, the hybrids of RGI1.8k and ICG could kill most cancer cells at a laser density of 0.7 W/cm2 in vitro and 0.3 W/cm2 in vivo. At the same time, cell viability could be controlled by converting the external magnetic-field direction because of the enrichment of the magnet-responsive composite in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, RGI1.8k-ICGs could be used as T2-weighted magnetic resonance and infrared thermal imaging agents. Coupled with the magnetic target effect, the imaging signal could be improved significantly. Therefore, RGI1.8k-ICGs represent a new highly efficient PTT and imaging agent with great potential for cancer treatment.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Positively charged graphene/Fe3O4/polyethylenimine with enhanced drug loading and cellular uptake for magnetic resonance imaging and magnet-responsive cancer therapy

Show Author's information Baoji Du1,2, Jianhua Liu3,6, Guanyu Ding1, Xu Han1, Dan Li1( ), Erkang Wang1( ), Jin Wang1,4,5( )
State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical ChemistryChangchun Institute of Applied ChemistryChinese Academy of SciencesChangchun130022China
University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing100039China
Department of Radiologythe Second Hospital of Jilin UniversityChangchun130041China
College of PhysicsJilin UniversityChangchun130012China
Department of Chemistry and Physics, State University of New York at Stony BrookNY11794-3400USA
State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative ChemistryCollege of ChemistryJilin UniversityChangchun130012China

Abstract

Enhanced cellular uptake efficiency of nanoparticles is important for their biomedical applications, including photothermal therapy (PTT) for cancer. In this study, a one-pot method was used to construct a positively charged and magnet-responsive nanocomposite comprising reduced graphene oxide anchoring iron oxide (RGI) with a polyethylenimine (PEI) modification, to improve the efficiency of cell internalization. The surface charge can be finely tuned using PEIs of different molecular weights. The obtained RGI1.8k composite (RGI modified by 1.8 kDa PEI) could load indocyanine green (ICG) at a high mass ratio of 10:3 and ablate cancer cells using low-density laser irradiation because of its positively charged surface. In addition, the hybrids of RGI1.8k and ICG could kill most cancer cells at a laser density of 0.7 W/cm2 in vitro and 0.3 W/cm2 in vivo. At the same time, cell viability could be controlled by converting the external magnetic-field direction because of the enrichment of the magnet-responsive composite in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, RGI1.8k-ICGs could be used as T2-weighted magnetic resonance and infrared thermal imaging agents. Coupled with the magnetic target effect, the imaging signal could be improved significantly. Therefore, RGI1.8k-ICGs represent a new highly efficient PTT and imaging agent with great potential for cancer treatment.

Keywords: magnetic resonance imaging, drug delivery, photothermal therapy, surface charge, synergistic therapy, low laser density

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 30 September 2016
Revised: 10 December 2016
Accepted: 12 December 2016
Published: 20 April 2017
Issue date: July 2017

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31301177, 21427811, and 91430217), and MOST China (No. 2013YQ170585). J. W. also appreciated NSF.

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