Application of Quantum Dots in diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer

Aim and Background: Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is a disease in which cells in the colon or rectum grow out of control. There has been great improvement in nanomaterial fields as a diagnosis and treatment system for cancer studies. Methods: Literature was reviewed and their findings were recapitulated. Results and discussion: Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are considered to be the next generation of carbon-based nanomaterial for biomedical applications. The in-vivo and in-vitro results in investigations indicated that GQDs-polymer-DOX conjugates with high cancer suppression capacity could be adopted for future cancer therapy, including CRC. The results suggest that cationic polymers and an anisotropic shape can facilitate cell uptake, which highly enhances the suppression of colon cancer. Peptide-functionalized graphene oxide-based QDs (P-QDs) offer a simple, multifunctional platform that can be used as targeted theranostics for the detection of small tumours in patients. Treatment with P-QDs will also increase the cell cytotoxicity, reduce the invasiveness of HT-29 and HCT-116 cells, and downgrade the expression of PLAC-1 which is overexpressed in CRC. In another novel study targeting tumor-specific markers with biocompatible amenable molecules like NPs can help in diagnosing CRC. QDs have also been used to identify Aldo-keto reductase family 1 member B10 (AKR1B10) in the serum, which improved early detection of colorectal cancer. Conclusion: QDs are technological marvels with characteristics that may revolutionize cancer diagnosis and treatment. Currently, QDs are widely used in vitro, such as in detecting cancer biomarkers in molecular pathology, revealing cancer invasion, focusing on the tumor environment, and providing a novel approach for improving tumor heterogeneity understanding, diagnosis, classification, and treatment of cancer.