Employing carbon quantum dots to combat cytomegalovirus

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are well known as a promising therapeutic agent due to their excellent pro-oxidant, antioxidant, antibacterial and anticancer properties under visible light irradiation. This material is easy to produce by several bottom-up or top-down methods. In this study, we used citric acid as starting precursor to synthesize aqueous carbon quantum dots dispersion by pyrolysis at 210 °C. Atomic force microscopy and XPS analyses revealed that CQDs synthesized are quasi-spherical with typical diameter of 9 nm and lots of C–O and CO functional groups distributed over the basal plane and edges of the dots. Here, we investigated the antiviral properties of CQDs against cytomegalovirus (CMV). The pre-treatment with CQDs upregulates interferon-stimulated genes (ISG), resulting in better virus control. Cellular defence against cytomegalovirus of CQDs pre-treated cells is increased in a dose-dependent manner. Our results reveal high biocompatibility and potent in vitro antiviral properties of CQDs.