Fullerens: Perspectives of applications in Medicine
-
1
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Pharmacology, Greece
Fullerenes hold great promise in applications, in which prevention of oxidative cell damage or apoptosis is desirable, as well as in cases where oxidation and radical processes are destructive. They seem to be promising agents in new drug development or in decreasing the toxicity of current drugs. Fullerenes could be used for specific targeting of cells and body tissues after intravenous or subcutaneous drug administration. Fullerene C60 (backyball) and its derivatives have been investigated as promising interveners in basic biological functions, such as DNA photocleavage, HIV-Protease inhibition, neuroprotection and apoptosis. Other fullerenes, like Trimetaspheres, contain functional metallic ions which increase image quality and safety in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and may improve the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of diseases, including atherosclerotic plaque detection and improved visualization of neoplastic brain disorders. Fullerenes are exceptional free radical scavengers, or antioxidants. They have shown to be much more effective than current leading antioxidants such as Vitamin E. They can intercept free radicals and neutralize them before they cause cellular harm, for many diseases such as allergy, asthma and arthritis. They could potentially be used in controlling the neurological damage of Alzheimer's disease and Lou Gehrig's disease, which are a result of radical damage. Metallofullerenes (all-carbon fullerene cages that enclose metal ions) as well as other fullerenes carrying specific chemical conjugates (either enclosed or attached to their surface) can be used for various medical applications, like detecting and treating cancer cells or as nanodrugs with slow-release and targeted drug delivery capacity. Fullerens offer a new promising perspective in nanopharmacology; of course, preclinical, clinical and long-term toxicity studies will be required to translate this promising technology into patient care-giving practice. Drugs for atherosclerosis, photodynamic therapy, and anti-viral agents are now in development, while a skin care cream based on the C60 fullerene has already been launched in market.
Keywords:
Fullerenes,
Targeted Drug Delivery,
nanodrug,
nanopharmacology
Conference:
8th Southeast European Congress on Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity - XEMET 2010, Thessaloniki, Greece, 1 Oct - 5 Oct, 2010.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Nanopharmacology / Nanomedicine
Citation:
Garoufalia
Z and
Papaioannidou
P
(2010). Fullerens: Perspectives of applications in Medicine.
Front. Pharmacol.
Conference Abstract:
8th Southeast European Congress on Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity - XEMET 2010.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fphar.2010.60.00123
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
28 Oct 2010;
Published Online:
04 Nov 2010.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Paraskevi Papaioannidou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Pharmacology, Thessaloniki, Greece, ppap@auth.gr