SCIENCE CHINA

Chemistry
•HIGHLIGHTS• February 2020 Vol.63 No.2: 141–142
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9631-9

Take precautions against potential threats that carbon nanotubes

may bring to you
1,2 1,2 1,2*
Min Luo , Ziying Xiang & Zhanjun Gu
1
CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100049, China;
2
College of Materials Science and Optoelectronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Received September 24, 2019; accepted October 4, 2019; published online October 25, 2019

Citation: Luo M, Xiang Z, Gu Z. Take precautions against potential threats that carbon nanotubes may bring to you. Sci China Chem, 2020, 63: 141–142,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9631-9

Long-term pulmonary exposure to multi-walled carbon
nanotubes (MWCNTs) may promote breast cancer metas-
tasis and rapid colonization in the lungs and other organs
according to recent research conducted by Prof. Chunying
Chen, Prof. Tao Zhu and their colleagues, published in
Nature Nanotechnology [1].
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), with unique hollow, cylindrical
nanostructures that consist of single rolled-up graphene
sheets or more than one concentric rolled-up sheet, have
been used in many fields, such as energy storage [2], solar
cells and biotechnology [3]. However, the negative effects of
CNTs on human health have gradually given rise to public
concerns. Previous toxicity studies of CNTs have been re-
stricted to inflammatory effects or neoplastic growth in the
lungs or pleura area [4], whereas their systemic toxicity on
non-lung-adjacent organs through pulmonary exposure has
rarely been studied. To move one step forward, Chen and co-
workers designed an experiment using a murine breast can-
cer allograft model to investigate whether long-term pul-
monary exposure to CNTs would eventually affect the
progression of breast cancer via systemic effects.
In the rational design of the study, researchers implanted
MWCNTs into the lungs of BALB/c mice by non-surgical,
intratracheal instillation. After 120 d, they found that the
increased concentrations of inflammation- and fibrosis-
*Corresponding author (email: zjgu@ihep.ac.cn)
related factors including vascular endothelial growth factor
A (VEGFA), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and cy-
clooxygenase-2 (COX-2), were mainly derived from accu-
mulated macrophages and fibroblasts, indicating that
MWCNTs may promote pulmonary inflammation and fi-
brosis. Furthermore, BALB/c-derived 4T1-Luc cells were
then implanted into the mammary fat pats of the remaining
mice and later surgically excised to investigate tumour in-
vasion caused by CNT exposure. By analysing the mammary
carcinoma cells of the CNT-exposed mouse group, the au-
thors observed their rapid colonization in the lungs and
dissemination to other organs. They also noticed the en-
hanced expression of several key factors, such as VEGFA
and COX-2, which provided a favorable microenvironment
for metastatic colonization (Figure 1). Notably, the re-
searchers found that the positive feedback loop between
VEGFA and COX-2 contributing to enhanced angiogenesis
might be the primary cause of tumour metastasis. The ac-
cumulation of CNTs in the lungs stimulates the secretion and
transportation of VEGFA in the blood, which accelerates
blood vessel growth and induces positive feedback between
VEGFA and COX-2. Subsequently, more nutrition and space
are accessible to tumour cells, leading to enhanced cancer
metastasis. Their work made it possible to understand the
underlying mechanism of the CNT-elicited metastasis of
breast cancer tumours, which can be summarized as follows:
long-term pulmonary MWCNT exposure fosters the pul-

© Science China Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 chem.scichina.com link.springer.com
142 Luo et al. Sci China Chem
Figure 1 Schematic overview of pulmonary MWCNT-exposure-promoted tumour metastasis. Pulmonary MWCNT exposure conditioned both the pul-
monary inflammatory microenvironment and systemic inflammatory environment to elicit enhanced tumour angiogenesis and invasion, leading to rampant
metastasis into lung and multiple organs [5] (color online).
monary and systemic inflammatory environment to enhance
tumour angiogenesis and invasion, eventually causing breast
cancer metastasis to the lungs and other organs.
“The importance of these results is far-reaching”, Prof.
Iseult Lynch from the University of Birmingham com-
mented, “the data and findings presented here can also be
viewed as an enormous opportunity; the use of nanomaterials
to probe signaling pathways involved in metastasis will shed
light on these pathways and provide insights into the key
steps, their timings and points for potential therapeutic in-
tervention” [5]. Although further research is needed to gain a
better understanding of the comprehensive side effects of
CNTs on the human body, Chen and co-workers have cer-
tainly made great progress in the field of CNT toxicology for
better prevention and medical treatment. In addition, con-
sidering the increasing presence of CNTs in the environment,
this study also stresses the urgent need to attach importance
to chronic CNT nanotoxicity. As shown in this study, a major
issue with CNTs, in general, is their toxicity. Therefore,
February (2020) Vol.63 No.2
precautions against the potential threats that CNTs may bring
should always be considered. In particular, individuals in a
CNT workplace or laboratories interacting with CNTs almost
every day should be on the alert.
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
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