Journal
PHARMACEUTICS
Volume 14, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14102212
Keywords
photodynamic therapy; hypericin; nanoparticle conjugation; physical adsorption; breast cancer; cell death
Categories
Funding
- South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology
- National Research Foundation of South Africa [98337]
- South African Medical Research Council from the South African National Treasury [SAMRC EIP007/2021]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Breast cancer, a common and treatment-resistant cancer, can be effectively treated using photodynamic therapy with the aid of gold nanoparticles. This study demonstrates the successful adsorption of a photosensitizer onto gold nanoparticles and its application in inducing apoptosis in MCF-7 breast cancer cells in vitro.
Breast cancer, among the different types of cancer, is one of the most diagnosed cancers and the leading cause of mortalities amongst women. Factors, including genetic and epigenetic alterations in tumors, make it resistant to therapies, which results in treatment failures and/or recurrence. Furthermore, the existing therapies have many unfavorable side effects leading to poor prognosis and reduced therapeutic outcomes. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is one of the most effective cancer therapies with increased selectivity and specificity toward cancer cells. As a result, the use of gold nanoparticles (AuNP) further improves the effectiveness of PDT by increasing the drug loading capacity into the cells. In this study, hypericin (Hyp) photosensitizer (PS) was adsorbed on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by sonication to achieve physical adsorption of the PS to AuNP. The resulting compound was characterized by FTIR, Zeta potential, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and TEM. The compound was used for the PDT treatment of MCF-7 human breast cancer in vitro. Cellular responses at 12 h post-PDT at 10 J/cm(2) were observed. Cellular morphology, LDH membrane integrity, ATP luminescence assay, and Annexin V/PI staining were performed. The results demonstrated typical cell death morphological features while the biochemical responses indicated increased LDH and decreased ATP levels. In conclusion, this study presents an insight into the application of advanced PDT in breast cancer cells by inducing cancer cell death in vitro via apoptosis.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available