Albumin-coated copper nanoparticles for photothermal cancer therapy: Synthesis and in vitro characterization

Reeju Amatya; Donghee Lee; Marium Sultana; Kyoung Ah Min; Meong Cheol Shin

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17732

Albumin-coated copper nanoparticles for photothermal cancer therapy: Synthesis and in vitro characterization

Heliyon. 2023 Jun 27;9(7):e17732. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17732. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Authors

Reeju Amatya¹, Donghee Lee¹, Marium Sultana¹, Kyoung Ah Min², Meong Cheol Shin¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Pharmacy and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, 501 Jinju Daero, Jinju, Gyeongnam, 52828, Republic of Korea.
² College of Pharmacy and Inje Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, Inje University, 197 Injero, Gimhae, Gyeongnam, 50834, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) have attracted great interest in various biomedical research fields due to their superior optical and plasmonic properties. In the present study, we synthesized bovine serum albumin (BSA)-coated CuNPs (BSA-CuNPs) by adopting the aqueous reduction method in 2-step procedures. The prepared BSA-CuNPs were characterized in vitro for their physical characteristics and photothermal activity. The successful synthesis of BSA-CuNPs was verified through transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) light spectroscopy. The prepared BSA-CuNPs revealed a great light-to-heat conversion capacity and good photothermal stability. Notably, accompanied by laser irradiation, the BSA-CuNPs elicited significantly higher cytotoxicity on tumor cells than the control group. Preliminary animal studies to determine the biosafety and pharmacokinetics (PK) profiles exhibited that the BSA-CuNPs have a maximum tolerable dose (MTD) of 16 mgCu/kg and a relatively long plasma half-life of 1.98 h. Overall, our findings demonstrated that BSA-CuNPs might be a potential photothermal therapeutic agent for cancer treatment.

Keywords: Albumin; Cancer; Copper; Nanoparticle; Photothermal therapy.