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.Weshow that silver catalytically decomposes 5-Fu, compromising the efficacy of the chemotherapy treatment. Furthermore, HFis released as a product, which will be damaging to both patient and catheter.Wedemonstrate that graphene surfaces inhibit this undesirable reaction and would offer superior performance as nanoscale coatings in cancer treatment applications.
Graphene coatings for chemotherapy: Avoiding silver-mediated degradation
Mazzola F.;
2015-01-01
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.Weshow that silver catalytically decomposes 5-Fu, compromising the efficacy of the chemotherapy treatment. Furthermore, HFis released as a product, which will be damaging to both patient and catheter.Wedemonstrate that graphene surfaces inhibit this undesirable reaction and would offer superior performance as nanoscale coatings in cancer treatment applications.I documenti in ARCA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.