Introducing carbon quantum dot-Capivasertib drug carrier complex for enhanced treatment of breast cancer

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Theodore

Capivasertib (AZD5363) is a 2023 FDA-approved compound for hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer, acting as a pan-AKT catalytic inhibitor in ER+ cell lines such as MCF7. The study evaluates a drug delivery system where carbon quantum dots (CQDs) dominate synergistically with chemotherapy drugs to improve targeted delivery, controlled release, solubility, permeability, and retention. Hydrothermal and pyrolysis were used to prepare N-, S-, and N/S-doped CQDs, then conjugated with AZD5363 at 0.03, 0.3, and 3 nM. MTT, immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry, and invasion assays show that the N/S-doped CQD-AZD5363 complex at 0.03 nM is most effective, reducing AKT expression, inducing apoptosis, and limiting metastasis and invasion while decreasing IC50 and increasing cancer-cell specificity.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

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Pages21

Reading Time53 min

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Abstract

Introduction

OPEN ACCESS Citation: Rahmandoust M, Abdolrahimisoroush (2025) Introducing carbon quantum dot-Capivasertib drug carrier complex for enhanced treatment of breast cancer. PLoS ONE 20(3): e0319206 . [https://doi](https://doi). org/10 . 1371/journal. pone.0319206 Editor: Pramod Kumar Gupta, Fraunhofer USA, Inc. Center Midwest, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Received: May 21, 2024 Accepted: January 28, 2025 Published: March 11, 2025 Copyright: © 2025 Rahmandoust. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data availability statement: All relevant data are within the manuscript. Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. RESEARCH ARTICLE Introducing carbon quantum dot-Capivasertib drug carrier complex for enhanced treatment of breast cancer Moones Rahmandoust1,2*, Soroush Abdolrahimi1 1 Protein Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, 2 Department of Biochemistry and Bioprocess Engineering, Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran * [Rahmandoust.moones@gmail.com](Rahmandoust.moones@gmail.com) Abstract Capivasertib (AZD5363) is a 2023 FDA-approved pyrrolopyrimidine-derived compound that treats hormone receptor positive, HER2 negative metastatic breast cancer in adult patients. It is a novel pan-AKT kinase catalytic inhibitor in ER + breast cancer cell lines, including MCF7. The dominant influence of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) in combination with multiple chemotherapy drugs is also demonstrated as a drug delivery system that significantly enhances the effectiveness of cancerous tumour treatments by providing reduced side-effects, through targeted delivery of the drug, controlled release, enhanced solubility, permeability and retention. In this study, the impact of the conjugation of AZD5363 drug to N-doped, S-doped, and N/S-doped CQDs was investigated on inducing apoptosis by inhibiting the AKT signalling pathway in the MCF7 cell line. Initially, hydrothermal and pyrolysis methods were used to construct CQDs. Then, the synthesized quantum dots were conjugated with AZD5363 at three different concentrations, i.e. , 0.03, 0.3, and 3nM. The MTT test results, on MCF7 cells, showed that although all the studied CQDs were biocompatible, the complex of N/S-doped CQD-AZD5363 at a concentration of 0.03nM was the most effective. After obtaining immunocytochemistry results, flow cytometry and cell invasion tests were employed to demonstrate the high potential of the introduced drug carrier complex in reducing AKT protein expression, induction of apoptosis and prevention of cell metastasis and invasion. According to these results, the binding of N/S-doped CQD to AZD5363 increases the effectiveness of this drug, with reducing the IC50 concentration, and more specificity to cancerous cells, introducing it as a suitable candidate for the treatment of breast cancer. Introduction Breast cancer is a multifactorial process recognized as the most prevalent cancer among women. In recent years, the increase in the incidence of breast cancer has raised great concerns. Although chemotherapy is introduced as one of the most effective therapeutical approaches for the disease, its major limitation is the lack of tumour selectivity. Chemotherapy results in grievous side effects due to the diffusion into approximately all organs, damaging both cancerous and healthy cells [ 1]. Additionally, low drug loading efficiency and uncontrolled drug distribution limit the application of chemotherapy. Hence, finding new therapeutical approaches against this limitation is of great importance [2] . One approach toward selective targeting of the drug into the tumour is taking advantage of

FAQs

What is Capivasertib (AZD5363) and how does it work against breast cancer?

Capivasertib (AZD5363) is a 2023 FDA-approved pyrrolopyrimidine-derived compound. It functions as a pan-AKT kinase catalytic inhibitor in ER+ breast cancer cell lines, including MCF7, helping suppress AKT signaling.

How were the carbon quantum dots (CQDs) prepared and how was AZD5363 attached?

CQDs were constructed using hydrothermal and pyrolysis methods. The synthesized quantum dots were then conjugated with AZD5363 at three concentrations: 0.03, 0.3, and 3 nM, using N-doped, S-doped, and N/S-doped CQDs.

Which CQD-AZD5363 formulation showed the strongest anticancer effects in MCF7 cells?

The N/S-doped CQD-AZD5363 complex at 0.03 nM showed the highest effectiveness. Results indicated biocompatibility across studied CQDs, with the N/S-doped complex producing improved activity alongside reduced IC50, apoptosis induction, and reduced invasion/metastasis.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Theodore