The influence of fullerenol on the cell number, cell area and colony forming unit ability in irradiated human erythroleukemic cell line

Fullerenols as a new therapeutic approach in nanomedicine

Recently, much attention has been paid to the bioactive properties of water-soluble fullerene derivatives: fullerenols, with emphasis on their pro- and antioxidative properties. Due to their hydrophilic properties and the ability to scavenge free radicals, fullerenols may, in the future, provide a serious alternative to the currently used pharmacological methods in chemotherapy, treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, and radiobiology. Some of the most widely used drugs in chemotherapy are anthracycline antibiotics. Anthracycline therapy, in spite of its effective antitumor activity, induces systemic oxidative stress, which interferes with the effectiveness of the treatment and results in serious side effects. Fullerenols may counteract the harmful effects of anthracyclines by scavenging free radicals and thereby improve the effects of chemotherapy. Additionally, due to the hollow spherical shape, fullerenols may be used as drug carriers. Moreover, because of the existence of the currently ineffective ways for neurodegenerative diseases treatment, alternative compounds, which could prevent the negative effects of oxidative stress in the brain, are still sought. In the search of alternative methods of treatment and diagnosis, today's science is increasingly reaching for tools in the field of nanomedicine, for example, fullerenes and their water-soluble derivatives, which is addressed in the present paper.

Fullerenol: A new nanopharmaceutic?

Chemical modification of fullerenes to hydrosoluble cluster molecules made fullerenes interesting for biological investigation. Among them, polycarbonated and polyhydroxylated fullerene C60 derivatives showed the most interesting biological activities. In this paper, we present the most important recent results of in vitro and in vivo biological studies with fullerenol C60(OH)24. Fullerenol C60(OH)24 was strong antioxidant: it reacted with superoxide anion radical, hydroxy radical and nitrous oxide radical in chemical and biological systems. Fullerenol C60(OH)24 did not inhibit human breast cancer cell growth at concentrations from 0.8 to 3.45 ?M, but strongly modulated cytotoxic effects of doxorubicin and cis-platinum after 24 and 48 hours of treatment. Radioprotective effects of fullerenol C60(OH)24 were shown in different in vitro and in vivo models. Fullerenol C60(OH)24 (100 mg/kg) protected rat heart from doxorubicin toxicity. Biodistribution studies of fulelrenol were also investigated. Accumulating data from the literature and from our studies suggest that fullerenol, as a nanoparticle might be a new promising pharmaceutical in the near future.