title: Carbon nanotubes enhance the internalization of drugs by cancer cells and decrease their chemoresistance to cytostatics.
abstract: Etoposide is a semisynthetic, chemotherapeutic drug widely recommended to treat an extensive range of human cancers. Our studies indicate that, while etoposide is capable of killing human cancer cells, exposure to single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and etoposide results in enhanced cell death that appears to be synergistic and not merely additive. In this study, we used high pressure liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to quantify the internal effective dose of etoposide when the human pancreatic cancer cell (PANC-1) was exposed to the combination of these agents. Our results unequivocally indicate that SWCNTs improve etoposide uptake and increase its capacity to kill cancer cells. We suggest that a combination of SWCNTs and etoposide may prove to be a more efficient chemotherapeutic protocol, especially because of the potential to lower toxic drug doses to levels that may be useful in decreasing adverse side effects, as well as in lowering the probability of inducing chemoresistance in exposed cancer cells.
authors.affiliation: Nanotechnology Center, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave, Little Rock, AR 72204, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dantuluri
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mustafa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karmakar
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Casciano
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biris
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000008:administration & dosage; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D054697:Cytostatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D004357:Drug Synergism; D005047:Etoposide / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D054697:Cytostatic Agents; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D005047:Etoposide