Biomaterials

The complex biosynthetic relationships of nanomaterials with the cellular components, resulting in their chemical nature, surface properties or morphology are often unpredictable. Our research group has demonstrated that Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) can penetrate inside cells and bind microtubules interfering with the cellular biomechanics. This biomimetic interaction leads to the formation of biosynthetic tubulin polymers displaying an enhanced stability that triggers anti-proliferative, anti-migratory and cytotoxic effects in different types of cancer cells. This antitumor activity is intrinsic to the nature of MWCNTs, complementary and synergetic to that of traditional microtubule-stabilizing anticancer drugs such as Taxol®. A key issue to take into account for the development of new alternatives to traditional drugs based on nanodevices or nanomedicines is the possible long-term effects of these nanomaterials, the tissue accumulation and the elimination rates, just as for traditional cytotoxic chemotherapies, CNTs can also interfere with the function of healthy cells and produce many unwanted side-effects. Consequently, unless most concerns about the toxicity of these materials disappear, the development of new treatments based on CNTs offer a poor risk-to-benefit ratio in oncology. Our group investigates different surface treatments on MWCNTs to make these nanomaterials more biocompatible and biodegradable. Improving in vivo biodegradability of MWCNTs - some of the most resistant materials discovered - is not trivial. Here we show how to preserve the anticancer properties of these nanomaterials, these treatments should maintain the general morphology of the tubes to retain the biomimetics of these filaments with the microtubules. Furthermore, we show how single dosages of o-MWCNTs produce significant anti-tumoral effects in vivo, in solid malignant melanomas produced by allograft transplantation in murine recipients. We believe these findings have critical implications for the development of new CNT-based nanotherapies to overcome drug resistance in cancer among other applications.

 

 

 

Recent Publications:

 

1. García‐Hevia L et al. (2015) Multiwalled carbon nanotubes interfere with cell biomechanics inhibiting cancer cell migration. Adv. Healthc. Mat. 4:1640‐4.
2. Villegas J et al. (2014) Multiwalled carbon nanotubes hinder brain macrophage function interfering with cell migration and phagocytosis. Adv. Healthc. Mat. 3:424-32.
3. García-Hevia L et al. (2015) Anticancer cytotoxic effects of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Curr. Pharm. Design. 21:1920-1929.
4. García-Hevia L et al. (2016) Multiwalled carbon nanotubes inhibit tumor progression in a mouse model. Adv. Healthc. Mat. 5:1080-7.
5. García‐Hevia L et al. (2016) Nano‐ZnO leads tubulin macrotube assembly and actin bundling triggering cytoskeletal catastrophe and cell necrosis. Nanoscale. 8:10963‐73.