Selective mediation of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells death by pristine carbon quantum dots/Cu(2)O composite through targeting matrix metalloproteinases, angiogenic cytokines and cytoskeleton

It was shown that some nanomaterials may have anticancer properties, but lack of selectivity is one of challenges, let alone selective suppression of cancer growth by regulating the cellular microenvironment. Herein, we demonstrated for the first time that carbon quantum dots/Cu(2)O composite (CQDs/Cu(2)O) selectively inhibited ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells by targeting cellular microenvironment, such as matrix metalloproteinases, angiogenic cytokines and cytoskeleton. The result was showed CQDs/Cu(2)O possessed anticancer properties against SKOV3 cells with IC(50) = 0.85 μg mL(−1), which was approximately threefold lower than other tested cancer cells and approximately 12-fold lower than normal cells. Compared with popular anticancer drugs, the IC(50) of CQDs/Cu(2)O was approximately 114-fold and 75-fold lower than the IC(50) of commercial artesunate (ART) and oxaliplatin (OXA). Furthermore, CQDs/Cu(2)O possessed the ability to decrease the expression of MMP-2/9 and induced alterations in the cytoskeleton of SKOV3 cells by disruption of F-actin. It also exhibited stronger antiangiogenic effects than commercial antiangiogenic inhibitor (SU5416) through down-regulating the expression of VEGFR2. In addition, CQDs/Cu(2)O has a vital function on transcriptional regulation of multiple genes in SKOV3 cells, where 495 genes were up-regulated and 756 genes were down-regulated. It is worth noting that CQDs/Cu(2)O also regulated angiogenesis-related genes in SKOV3 cells, such as Maspin and TSP1 gene, to suppress angiogenesis. Therefore, CQDs/Cu(2)O selectively mediated of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells death mainly through decreasing the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, F-actin, and VEGFR2, meanwhile CQDs/Cu(2)O caused apoptosis of SKOV3 via S phase cell cycle arrest. These findings reveal a new application for the use of CQDs/Cu(2)O composite as potential therapeutic interventions in ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells. [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-021-00813-8.