Thio-glucose bound gold nanoparticles enhance radio-cytotoxic targeting of ovarian cancer

Nanotechnology. 2011 Jul 15;22(28):285101. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/22/28/285101. Epub 2011 Jun 8.

Abstract

The treatment of ovarian cancer has traditionally been intractable, and required novel approaches to improve therapeutic efficiency. This paper reports that thio-glucose bound gold nanoparticles (Glu-GNPs) can be used as a sensitizer to enhance ovarian cancer radiotherapy. The human ovarian cancer cells, SK-OV-3, were treated by gold nanoparticles (GNPs) alone, irradiation alone, or GNPs in addition to irradiation. Cell uptake was assayed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), while cytotoxicity induced by radiotherapy was measured using both 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide and clonogenic assays. The presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was determined using CM-H2-DCFDA confocal microscopy and cell apoptosis was determined by an Annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide (PI) kit with flow cytometry. The cells treated by Glu-GNPs resulted in an approximate 31% increase in nanoparticle uptake compared to naked GNPs (p < 0.005). Compared to the irradiation alone treatment, the intracellular uptake of Glu-GNPs resulted in increased inhibition of cell proliferation by 30.48% for 90 kVp and 26.88% for 6 MV irradiation. The interaction of x-ray radiation with GNPs induced elevated levels of ROS production, which is one of the mechanisms by which GNPs can enhance radiotherapy on ovarian cancer.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Cycle / drug effects
  • Cell Death / drug effects
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Fluorescence
  • Glucose / analogs & derivatives*
  • Glucose / chemistry
  • Glucose / therapeutic use*
  • Glucose / toxicity*
  • Gold / chemistry
  • Gold / toxicity*
  • Humans
  • Intracellular Space / drug effects
  • Intracellular Space / metabolism
  • Metal Nanoparticles / chemistry
  • Metal Nanoparticles / toxicity*
  • Metal Nanoparticles / ultrastructure
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
  • Radiation Tolerance / drug effects
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
  • Sulfhydryl Compounds / chemistry
  • Sulfhydryl Compounds / therapeutic use*
  • X-Rays

Substances

  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Sulfhydryl Compounds
  • Gold
  • Glucose