A poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-based uniform (50-100 nm) hybrid nanoparticle (QAgNP) with positive zeta potential (0.52 ± 0.09 mV) was prepared by single emulsion solvent evaporation method with bioactive small molecule quinacrine (QC) in organic phase and silver (Ag) in aqueous phase. Physiochemical properties established it as a true hybrid nanoparticle and not a mixture of QC and Ag. Antitumor activity of QAgNP was evaluated by using various cancer cell lines including H-357 oral cancer cells and OSCC-cancer stem cell in an in vitro model system. QAgNP caused more cytotoxicity in cancer cells than normal epithelial cells by increasing BAX/BCL-XL, cleaved product PARP-1, and arresting the cells at S phase along with DNA damage. In addition, QAgNPs offered greater ability to kill the OSCC-CSCs compared to NQC and AgNPs. QAgNP offered anticancer action in OSCC-CSCs by inhibiting the base excision repair (BER) within the cells. Interestingly, alteration of BER components (Fen-1 and DNA polymerases (β, δ, and ε) and unalteration of NHEJ (DNA-PKC) or HR (Rad-51) components was noted in QAgNP treated OSCC-CSC cells. Furthermore, QAgNP significantly reduced angiogenesis in comparison to physical mixture of NQC and AgNP in fertilized eggs. Thus, these hybrid nanoparticles caused apoptosis in OSCC-CSCs by inhibiting the angiogenesis and BER in cells.
Keywords: hybrid nanoparticle; oral cancer; oral cancer stem cells; quinacrine; silver.