ArticleJournal of biological engineering2024
Synthesis of metformin-derived fluorescent quantum dots: uptake, cytotoxicity, and inhibition in human breast cancer cells through autophagy pathway.
Article in Journal of biological engineering, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Nanomaterial-driven spatiotemporal autophagy modulation: The dual-edged sword in precision cancer therapy.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Review
- Understanding the Toxicity of Carbon Dots: The Role of Synthesis Variability, Surface Chemistry, and Biological Context.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBreast cancer remains a challenge for physicians. Metformin, an antidiabetic drug, show promising anticancer properties against cancers. An emerging quantum dot (QD) material improves therapeutic agents' anticancer and imaging properties. QD are nano-sized particles with extreme application in nanotechnology captured by cells and accumulated inside cells, suggesting bioimaging and effective anticancer outcomes. In this study, a simple one-pot hydrothermal method was used to synthesize fluorescent metformin-derived carbon dots (M-CDs) and then investigated the cytotoxic effects and imaging features on two human breast cancer cell lines including, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells.
resultsResults showed that M-CDs profoundly decreased the viability of both cancer cells. IC50 values showed that M-CDs were more cytotoxic than metformin either 24-48 h post-treatment. Cancer cells uptake M-CDs successfully, which causes morphological changes in cells and increased levels of intracellular ROS. The number of Oil Red O-positive cells and the expression of caspase-3 protein were increased in M-CDs treated cells. Authophagic factors including, AMPK, mTOR, and P62 were down-regulated, while p-AMPK, Becline-1, LC3 I, and LC3 II were up-regulated in M-CDs treated cells. Finally, M-CDs caused a decrease in the wound healing rate of cells.
conclusionsFor the first, M-CDs were synthesized by simple one-pot hydrothermal treatment without further purification. M-CDs inhibited both breast cancer cells through modulating autophagy signalling.
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