Enhancement of radio sensitization by gold-silica shell- core nanoparticle in MCF7 breast cancer cells

  Introduction: In the present study, we investigated the role of gold-silica shell-core nanoparticle in megavoltage irradiation of MCF7 breast cancer cells.   Materials and Methods: gold-silicon oxide shell-core nanoparticles (NPs) were obtained by conjugation of gold nanoparticle with amine or thiol functionalized silica nanoparticles (AuN@SiO2 and AuS@SiO2). The structure of each nanoparticle was fully characterized by FTIR and TEM. The NPs treated cells were irradiated by using 6 and 18 MV x-rays. MTT and Brdu assay, DAPI staining and cell cycle were used to evaluate efficiency of nanoparticle in radiation therapy. Results: The average size of AuN@SiO2 and AuS@SiO2 NPs was 23.79±7.04 and 31.28±7.37 nm, respectively. The Brdu findings revealed significantly more death in AuN@SiO2 (amine) treated and exposed cells compared to AuS@SiO2 (thiol) treated cells. (p<0.05). Cell cycle study show that presence of NPs enhanced the effect of radiotherapy, in particular, highest destructive effects were observed at the radiation dose of 8 Gy using energy 18 MV.   Conclusion: It was concluded that our findings may open the possibilities for cooperative radiotherapy and gold-silica shell-core nanoparticle by increasing cytotoxicity in MCF7 cells and decreased side effect from single modality radiotherapy.