News Release

Improving the delivery of chemotherapy with graphene

Peer-Reviewed Publication

IOP Publishing

Chemotherapy IV

image: This image shows two hands manipulating an IV for chemotherapy administration to a patient. view more 

Credit: National Cancer Institute - Linda Bartlett

A new study published in IOP Publishing's journal 2D Materials has proposed using graphene as an alternative coating for catheters to improve the delivery of chemotherapy drugs.

The research suggests that placing graphene - an extremely thin sheet of carbon atoms - on the internal surfaces of intravenous catheters commonly used to deliver chemotherapy drugs into a patient's body will improve the efficacy of treatments, and reduce the potential of the catheters breaking.

The study indicates that damaging interactions can occur between the most commonly used chemotherapy drug, 5-Fluorouracil (5-Fu), and silver--one of the most widely used coating materials in medical applications.

As a result of this damage the researchers believe the drug may not deliver the desired therapeutic effect in patients, and that chemotherapy treatment may be compromised.

Furthermore, the research indicates that a by-product of the reaction between 5-Fu and silver is hydrogen fluoride (HF), a strong acid. This raises concerns that silver and HF may be injected into the patient along with the treatment.

Co-author of the study Justin Wells, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said: "As far as we know, nobody has ever looked at the chemical reaction between chemotherapy drugs and the materials they routinely come into contact with, such as catheters and needles and their coatings. It is just assumed that the drugs are delivered into the body intact.

"We have shown that silver is catalytically degrading the chemotherapy drugs, which means they are probably not being correctly delivered into the patient. Our research indicates that one of the decay products of this reaction is HF, which would be a worrying thing to inject into a patient."

As a solution to this problem, the international team of researchers have proposed using graphene as an alternative coating material for catheters.

In their study, the researchers used a technique known as x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) to study the chemical composition of 5-Fu, as well as the drug's reactions with silver and graphene.

XPS is a technique used to measure the surface chemistry of a particular material by firing a beam of x-rays at it and collecting the electrons that are subsequently emitted from the very top layer of the material. The researchers performed these measurements at the Swedish national synchrotron laboratory--MAX IV Laboratory.

Their results showed that when 5-Fu comes into contact with silver, reactions occur in which there is a massive loss of the element fluoride from the drug, leading to the creation of HF.

When the researchers repeated this experiment with 5-Fu and graphene, they found that these reactions completely disappeared and that graphene caused no damage to the drug.

Graphene is a biocompatible material with low toxicity that has already been suggested as an external coating for biomedical applications. The researchers state that the fabrication of thin graphene coatings is technological feasible and can even be grown on top of silver to maintain compliance with existing fabrication methods.

"Our findings are an important first step in this new field. Together with our collaborators and students, we are increasing our understanding of the critical interactions between drugs and medical coatings, with a view to making the knowledge freely available for all to use," Wells continued.

"This study was a simplified version of real life chemotherapy treatment, so our future studies will look to mimic the processes more closely by examining real drug mixtures that contain other active ingredients as well as a salt solution. We will also look to extend our experiments to include other chemotherapy drugs."

###

This paper can be downloaded from http://iopscience.iop.org/2053-1583/2/2/025004/article.

Notes to Editors

Contact

1. For further information, a full draft of the journal paper or contact with one of the researchers, contact IOP Publishing Senior Press Officer, Steve Pritchard: Tel: 0117 930 1032 E-mail: steve.pritchard@iop.org

IOP Publishing Journalist Area

2. The IOP Publishing Journalist Area gives journalists access to embargoed press releases, advanced copies of papers, supplementary images and videos. Login details also give free access to IOPscience, IOP Publishing's journal platform. To apply for a free subscription to this service, please email the IOP Publishing Press team at ioppublishing.press@iop.org, with your name, organisation, address and a preferred username. Graphene coatings for chemotherapy: avoiding silver-mediated degradation

3. The published version of the paper 'Graphene coatings for chemotherapy: avoiding silver-mediated degradation' (Federico Mazzola et al 2015 2D Mater. 2 025004) is available online at http://iopscience.iop.org/2053-1583/2/2/025004/article.

2D Materials

4. 2D Materials is a multidisciplinary, electronic-only journal devoted to publishing fundamental and applied research of the highest quality and impact covering all aspects of graphene and related two-dimensional materials.

IOP Publishing

5. IOP Publishing provides publications through which leading-edge scientific research is distributed worldwide.

Beyond our traditional journals programme, we make high-value scientific information easily accessible through an ever-evolving portfolio of books, community websites, magazines, conference proceedings and a multitude of electronic services.

IOP Publishing is central to the Institute of Physics, a not-for-profit society. Any financial surplus earned by IOP Publishing goes to support science through the activities of the Institute.

Go to ioppublishing.org or follow us @IOPPublishing.

The Institute of Physics

6. The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society. We are a charitable organisation with a worldwide membership of more than 50,000, working together to advance physics education, research and application.

We engage with policymakers and the general public to develop awareness and understanding of the value of physics and, through IOP Publishing, we are world leaders in professional scientific communications.

In September 2013, we launched our first fundraising campaign. Our campaign, Opportunity Physics, offers you the chance to support the work that we do.

Visit us at http://www.iop.org or follow us on Twitter @physicsnews.


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.