Cellular and subcellular interactions of graphene-based materials with cancerous and non-cancerous cells

Despite significant advances in early detection and personalized treatment, cancer is still among the lead-ing causes of death globally. One of the possible anticancer approaches that is presently receiving a lot of attention is the development of nanocarriers capable of specific and efficient delivery of anticancer drugs. Graphene-based materials are promising nanocarriers in this respect, due to their high drug loading capacity and biocompatibility. In this review, we present an overview on the interactions of graphene-based materials with normal mammalian cells at the molecular level as well as cellular and subcellular levels, including plasma membrane, cytoskeleton, and membrane-bound organelles such as lysosomes, mitochondria, nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, and peroxisome. In parallel, we assemble the knowledge about the interactions of graphene-based materials with cancerous cells, that are considered as the potential applications of these materials for cancer therapy including metastasis treatment, targeted drug delivery, and differentiation to non-cancer stem cells. We highlight the influence of key parameters, such as the size and surface chemistry of graphene-based materials that govern the efficiency of internaliza-tion and biocompatibility of these particles in vitro and in vivo. Finally, this review aims to correlate the key parameters of graphene-based nanomaterials specially graphene oxide, such as size and surface mod-ifications, to their interactions with the cancerous and non-cancerous cells for designing and engineering them for bio-applications and especially for therapeutic purposes.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

Despite significant advances in early detection and personalized treatment, cancer remains one of the leading causes of death globally. Graphene-based materials show promise as nanocarriers for specific and efficient delivery of anticancer drugs. This review presents an overview of the interactions between graphene-based materials and normal and cancerous cells, highlighting key parameters that influence their internalization and biocompatibility for potential therapeutic applications.