As a good photosensitizer, TiO₂ nanomaterials show potential biomedical applications, such as drug carriers or enhancers in photodynamic therapy. In this contribution, novel nanocomposites through the blending of TiO₂ nanofibers with the active compound, gambogic acid (GA), were explored, and the results showed that GA could inhibit cancer cell proliferation in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner, inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase in HepG2 cells. It is evident that after the GA-TiO₂ nanocomposites were cultured with the cancer cells, the cooperation effect could effectively enhance the cytotoxicity of GA for HepG2 cells. Meanwhile, if activated by UV irradiation, under the presence of GA-TiO₂ nanocomposites, this would lead to significant apoptosis and necrosis for HepG2 cells with a photodynamic therapy (PDT) effect. Associated with the controlled drug-release from these nanocomposites, TiO₂ nanofibers could readily cut down the drug consumption in HepG2 cells and reduce the side-effect for the normal cells and tissue, which may be further utilized in the therapeutic alliance for cancer therapy.
Keywords: PDT; TiO2 nanofibers; associated therapy; cancer cell; gambogic acid.