Issue 9, 2025, Issue in Progress

Doxorubicin-loaded pH-responsive porphyrin-derived carbon dots as a promising biocompatible drug delivery system for effective chemotherapy of breast cancer

Abstract

Doxorubicin (DOX), a widely used chemotherapy drug for breast cancer, suffers from limitations such as non-specific toxicity and drug resistance. To address these challenges, we developed a novel drug delivery system (DDS) using porphyrin-derived carbon dots (CDs) as carriers for DOX. Porphyrin-based CDs were synthesized solvothermally from tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (TCPP) and urea. DOX was non-covalently loaded onto the CDs to form the DOX@CDs nanocomposite. The resulting CDs exhibited desirable properties like excellent water solubility, stability, and biocompatibility. Moreover, the DOX@CDs complex showed a high drug loading efficiency of 93% and a pH-responsive release profile, with enhanced release at acidic tumor microenvironments. The DOX@CDs nanocomposite demonstrated significantly improved cytotoxicity against human breast cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines (at IC50 values 24.08 ± 1.446 and 10.587 ± 0.815 μg mL−1) compared to free DOX (at IC50 values = 262.96 ± 1.807 and 261.6 ± 0.907 μg mL−1). Analysis by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry demonstrated that the enhanced cytotoxicity of the DOX@CDs complex compared to free DOX correlated with its greater cellular uptake and localization in cancerous cells. Notably, the nanocomposite exhibited reduced hemolytic activity, indicating enhanced biocompatibility. Our findings suggest that porphyrin-derived CDs hold promise as a safe and effective nanocarrier for targeted DOX delivery, offering a potential strategy to improve the therapeutic efficacy of breast cancer chemotherapy.

Graphical abstract: Doxorubicin-loaded pH-responsive porphyrin-derived carbon dots as a promising biocompatible drug delivery system for effective chemotherapy of breast cancer

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Dec 2024
Accepted
18 Feb 2025
First published
26 Feb 2025
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2025,15, 6457-6473

Doxorubicin-loaded pH-responsive porphyrin-derived carbon dots as a promising biocompatible drug delivery system for effective chemotherapy of breast cancer

A. Ansary, A. Osman and M. E. El-Khouly, RSC Adv., 2025, 15, 6457 DOI: 10.1039/D4RA09058F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements