Graphene coatings for chemotherapy: avoiding silver-mediated degradation

Federico Mazzola, Thuat Trinh, Simon Cooil, Elise Ramleth Østli, Kristin Høydalsvik, Eirik Torbjørn Bakken Skjønsfjell, Signe Kjelstrup, Alexei Preobrajenski, Attilio A Cafolla, D Andrew Evans, Dag W Breiby, Justin W Wells

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)
234 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Chemotherapy treatment usually involves the delivery of fluorouracil (5-Fu) together with other drugs through central venous catheters. Catheters and their connectors are increasingly treated with silver or argentic alloys/compounds. Complications arising from broken catheters are common, leading to additional suffering for patients and increased medical costs. Here, we uncover a likely cause of such failure through a study of the surface chemistry relevant to chemotherapy drug delivery, i.e. between 5-Fu and silver. We show that silver catalytically decomposes 5-Fu, compromising the efficacy of the chemotherapy treatment. Furthermore, HF is released as a product, which will be damaging to both patient and catheter. We demonstrate that graphene surfaces inhibit this undesirable reaction and would offer superior performance as nanoscale coatings in cancer treatment applications.
Original languageEnglish
Article number025004
Pages (from-to)1-6
Number of pages6
Journal2D Materials
Volume2
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 06 May 2015

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