Functional graphene oxide as cancer-targeted drug delivery system to selectively induce oesophageal cancer cell apoptosis.

Graphene oxides (GO) is a promising building material to fabricate desired drug delivery system due to its excellent physicochemical properties. In this study, an innovative nano-drug (Ori@GE11-GO) was constructed based on GE11 peptide functionalized GO for targeted delivery of oridonin to realize the specific recognition of tumour cells and enhance anticancer efficiency. GE11 surface modification onto GO significantly increased the cellular uptake of GO in EGFR overexpressed oesophageal cancer cells (KYSE-30 and EC109 cells) than that of normal cells, indicating the EGFR targeting effects of Ori@GE11-GO. The internalized Ori@GE11-GO could accumulate into lysosomes and significantly inhibit the viability of cancer cells. Moreover, Ori@GE11-GO could effectively induce KYSE-30 and EC109 cells cycle arrest, apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential (△Ψm) disruption through the activation of apoptotic signalling pathways and the inhibition of EGFR/Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK signalling pathway, showing potential use of Ori@GE11-GO for cancer treatment. Taken together, this study demonstrates a good strategy for the construction of bio-functionalized GO drug delivery nanosystem to improve the cancer targeting efficiency of anticancer medicines.