Cobalt ferrite nanoparticle for the elimination of CD133+CD44+ and CD44+CD24-, in breast and skin cancer stem cells, using non-ionizing treatments

Bahareh Khalili Najafabad; Neda Attaran; Mehdi Barati; Zahra Mohammadi; Mahmoud Mahmoudi; Ameneh Sazgarnia

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19893

Cobalt ferrite nanoparticle for the elimination of CD133+CD44⁺ and CD44⁺CD24^-, in breast and skin cancer stem cells, using non-ionizing treatments

Heliyon. 2023 Sep 15;9(10):e19893. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19893. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Bahareh Khalili Najafabad^{1

2}, Neda Attaran³, Mehdi Barati⁴, Zahra Mohammadi⁵, Mahmoud Mahmoudi⁶, Ameneh Sazgarnia^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Medical Physics Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
² Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
³ Department of Medical Nanotechnology, Applied Biophotonics Research Center, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
⁴ Department of Pathobiology and Laboratory Sciences, North Khorasan, University of Medical Science, Bojnurd, Iran.
⁵ Radiological Technology Department of Actually Paramedical Sciences, Babol University of Medical Science, Babol, Iran.
⁶ Immunology Research Center, Bu-Ali Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the most challenging issue in cancer treatment, because of their high resistance mechanisms, that can cause tumor recurrence after common cancer treatments such as drug and radiation based therapies, and the insufficient efficiency of common treatments in CSCs removal and the recurrence of tumors after these treatments, it is essential to consider other methods, including non-ionizing treatments likes light-based treatments and magnetic hyperthermia (MHT).

Method and material: After synthesis, characterization and investigation, the toxicity of novel on A375 and MAD-MB-231 cell lines, magnetic hyperthermia and light-based treatments were applied. MTT assay and flow cytometry was employed to determine cell survival. the influence of combination therapy on CD44 + CD24^-and CD133 + CD44⁺ cell population, Comparison and evaluation of combination treatments was done respectively using Combination Indices (CIs).

Result: The final nanoparticle has a high efficiency in producing hydroxyl radicals and generating heat in MHT. According to CIs, we can conclude that combined using of light-based treatment and MHT in the presence of final synthesized nanoparticle have synergistic effect and a high ability to reduce the population of stem cells in both cell lines compared to single treatments.

Conclusion: In this study a novel multi-functional nanoplatform acted well in dual and triple combined treatments, and showed a good performance in the eradication of CSCs, in A375 and MAD-MB-231 cell lines.

Keywords: Cancer stem cell (CSC); Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and magnetic hyperthermia (MHT); Photothermal therapy (PTT); Superparamagnetic nanoparticle.