Coffee grounds used in cancer research
Could coffee be used to delivering anti-cancer drugs in the body?
In a study part-funded by Cork-based charity Breakthrough Cancer Research, scientists at Dublin City University have discovered an environmentally friendly way to turn used coffee grounds into tiny ‘carbon dots’ that show potential as agents to carry and deliver anti-cancer drugs in the body.
The study, published in the journal Nanoscale, took used coffee grounds and generated tiny ‘carbon dots’ from them, using relatively gentle chemical processes.
Prof. Silvia Giordani, whose lab at DCU led the research, said: “Cancer treatment is advancing all the time, but challenges still remain, including the side-effects of chemotherapy. This is where we believe that nanomedicine, or using tiny nanoparticles such as carbon dots, could help improve treatment effectiveness and potentially reduce side-effects for patients.”
To carry out the study, the team used two widely available brands of coffee and treated the spent coffee grounds to create carbon dots.
“There was nothing special about the coffee we used, we just went out and bought it off the shelves in shops,” Prof. Giordani said.
The team analysed the resulting carbon dots confirming their high quality and uniformity. Next, the researchers introduced the carbon dots to different types of lab-cultured human cell lines, including cancerous and healthy cells.
“We saw that the carbon dots inhibited the growth of breast cancer cells in the lab, and that, importantly, they had minimal effects on healthy breast, kidney, and liver cell lines,” explains Prof. Giordani. “This shows their potential to damage breast cancer cells while sparing healthy tissues.”
Orla Dolan, CEO of Breakthrough Cancer Research, said: “Breakthrough Cancer Research exists to invest in research that can tangibly improve the lives of people with cancer, and this study is a perfect example. Turning yesterday’s coffee grounds into tomorrow’s cancer-fighting nanomedicines is both brilliantly inventive and deeply meaningful. These sustainable carbon dots show real promise for delivering drugs straight to tumour cells while sparing healthy tissue, which could dramatically lessen the grueling side-effects so many people endure during chemotherapy. We’re thrilled to have supported this work and look forward to the next steps that could bring kinder, more effective treatments to patients sooner.”