Graphene oxide nanomaterials

Graphene oxide (GO), a common derivative of graphene, is an exciting nanomaterial that possesses several physical properties, which make it suitable for biomedical applications. GO is water-soluble providing large platform for convenient functionalization, and it exhibits fluorescent emission in near-infrared (NIR) to the visible spectrum (Maiti, Tong, Mou, & Yang, 2019). Yin et al . (Yin et al., 2017) proposed a multi-functionalized monolayer system by folic acid (FA) and Poly-allylamine hydrochloride (PAH) conjugation onto GO nanosheets. This allows for dual gene silencing in pancreatic cancer cells (MIA PaCa-2). It was ascertained that HDAC1 and K-ras , two genes essential for cell growth, were silenced simultaneously and the transfection efficiency was over 90%. Furthermore, as a result of the synergic combination of gene silencing and photothermal activity of GO under NIR light, in vivo cell proliferation was inhibited by >80%. The system exhibited low toxicity and may serve as a highly biocompatible nanocarrier for biomedical applications.