Potential Anticancer Activity of a New Pro-Apoptotic Peptide-Thioctic Acid Gold Nanoparticle Platform Publisher Pubmed



Akrami M¹ ; Samimi S² ; Alipour M³ ; Bardania H⁴ ; Ramezanpour S⁵ ; Najafi N⁶ ; Hosseinkhani S⁷ ; Kamankesh M⁸ ; Haririan I^{1, 2} ; Hassanshahi F¹ Show Affiliations
Source: Nanotechnology Published:2021

Abstract

Targeted nanoparticle platforms designed to induce cell death by apoptosis can bypass the resistance mechanisms of cancer cells. With this in mind we have constructed a new cancer-targeting peptidefunctionalized nanoparticle using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and a thioctic acid-DMPGTVLP peptide (TA-peptide) conjugate. Morphological analysis of the nanoparticles by transmission electron microscopy showed average diameters of about 3.52 nm and 26.2 nm for the AuNP core and shell, respectively. Strong affinity toward the nucleolin receptors of breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and T47D was observed for the TA-peptide gold nanoparticles (TAP@AuNPs) based on IC50 values. Furthermore, the nanoparticles showed excellent hemocompatibility. Quantitative results of atomic absorption showed improved uptake of TAP@AuNPs. Treatment of the cells with TAP@AuNPS resulted in greater release of cytochrome c following caspase-3/7 activation compared with free TA-peptide. The cytosolic level of adenosine triphosphate for TAP@AuNPs was higher than in controls. Higher anti-tumor efficiency was observed for TAP@AuNPs than TApeptide compared with phosphate-buffered saline after intratumoral injection in tumor-bearing mice. It can be concluded that the design and development of a receptor-specific peptide-AuNP platform will be valuable for theranostic applications in cancer nanomedicine. © 2021 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.