Carbon Dots as a Potential Therapeutic Agent for the Treatment of Cancer‐Related Anemia

Abstract

Due to the adverse effects of erythropoietin (EPO) on cancer patient survival, it is necessary to develop new agents that can be used to efficiently manage and treat cancer‐related anemia. In this study, novel distinctive carbon dots, J‐CDs, derived from jujube are designed, synthesized, and characterized. Based on the obtained results, this material comprises sp2 and sp3 carbon atoms, as well as oxygen/nitrogen‐based groups, and it specifically promotes the proliferation of erythroid cells by stimulating the self‐renewal of erythroid progenitor cells in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, J‐CDs have no discernible effects on tumor proliferation and metastasis, unlike EPO. Transcriptome profiling suggests that J‐CDs upregulate the molecules involved in hypoxia response, and they also significantly increase the phosphorylation levels of STAT5, the major transducer of signals for erythroid progenitor cell proliferation. Overall, this study demonstrates that J‐CDs effectively promote erythrocyte production without affecting tumor proliferation and metastasis; thus, they may be promising agents for the treatment of cancer‐related anemia.

Cross‐linking enhanced room‐temperature phosphorescence of carbon dots

“…Carbon dots (CDs), as emerging luminescent nanomaterial, are now widely applied in biological, [18][19][20] optoelectronic, [21][22][23] and energy-related fields, [24][25][26] owing to their impressive optical properties, small size, low toxicity, easy preparation, and biocompatibility. [27][28][29] At present, most reported studies on the optical properties of CDs focus on fluorescence (FL).…”

Unprecedented Chiral Nanovaccines for Significantly Enhanced Cancer Immunotherapy

“…Carbon dots (CDs) possess the appealing features of outstanding optical character, strong hydrophilicity, good biocompatibility, and outstanding cell permeability, which have comprehensive applications in cancer diagnosis − and treatment. − Because CDs are made up of a carbon core and an edge structure bonded with a great deal of functional groups, they are prone to combine with other substances via noncovalent or covalent interactions. Therefore, CDs have been proved to be ideal nanovehicles for dye, , drug, , protein, , and gene delivery. − As the most unique species of CDs, chiral CDs gradually display their remarkable abilities in biomedical applications, , which can regulate enzyme activities − and modulate structures of DNA, proteins, and peptides .…”

Facile synthesis of multifunctional pharmaceutical carbon dots for targeted bioimaging and chemotherapy of tumors

“…1–4 With the development of CD synthesis, it has been found that CDs not only have excellent photoluminescence properties, good biocompatibility, and low cytotoxicity, 5–9 but also can be synthesized from a wide range of sources, with almost any material with a carbon structure ( e.g. red jujube, 10 herbs, 11 RNA, 12 flowers, and leaves of plants 13 ) being a possible raw material for the synthesis of CDs. Moreover, the synthesized CDs may retain some of the properties of the utilized raw materials.…”