Functional Graphene Oxide as a Nanocarrier for Controlled Loading and Targeted Delivery of Mixed Anticancer Drugs

A simple synthetic route for the preparation of functional nanoscale graphene oxide (NGO), a novel nanocarrier for the loading and targeted delivery of anticancer drugs, is reported. The NGO is functionalized with sulfonic acid groups, which render it stable in physiological solution, followed by covalent binding of folic acid (FA) molecules to the NGO, thus allowing it to specifically target MCF-7 cells, human breast cancer cells with FA receptors. Furthermore, controlled loading of two anticancer drugs, doxorubicin (DOX) and camptothecin (CPT), onto the FA-conjugated NGO (FA-NGO) via pi-pi stacking and hydrophobic interactions is investigated. It is demonstrated that FA-NGO loaded with the two anticancer…