Silicon particles as trojan horses for potential cancer therapy

[EN] Background: Porous silicon particles (PSiPs) have been used extensively as drug delivery systems, loaded with chemical species for disease treatment. It is well known from silicon producers that silicon is characterized by a low reduction potential, which in the case of PSiPs promotes explosive oxidation reactions with energy yields exceeding that of trinitrotoluene (TNT). The functionalization of the silica layer with sugars prevents its solubilization, while further functionalization with an appropriate antibody enables increased bioaccumulation inside selected cells. Results: We present here an immunotherapy approach for potential cancer treatment. Our platform comprises the use of engineered silicon particles conjugated with a selective antibody. The conceptual advantage of our system is that after reaction, the particles are degraded into soluble and excretable biocomponents. Conclusions: In our study, we demonstrate in particular, specific targeting and destruction of cancer cells in vitro. The fact that the LD50 value of PSiPs-HER-2 for tumor cells was 15-fold lower than the LD50 value for control cells demonstrates very high in vitro specificity. This is the first important step on a long road towards the design and development of novel chemotherapeutic agents against cancer in general, and breast cancer in particular.The authors acknowledge financial support from the following projects FIS2009-07812, MAT2012-35040, PROMETEO/2010/043, CTQ2011-23167, CrossSERS, FP7 MC-IEF 329131, and HSFP (project RGP0052/2012) and Medcom Tech SA. Xiang Yu acknowledges support by the Chinese government (CSC, Nr. 2010691036).Fenollosa Esteve, R.; Garcia-Rico, E.; Alvarez, S.; Alvarez, R.; Yu, X.; Rodriguez, I.; Carregal-Romero, S.... (2014). Silicon particles as trojan horses for potential cancer therapy. 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Laser-synthesized oxide-passivated bright Si quantum dots for bioimaging

International audienceCrystalline silicon (Si) nanoparticles present an extremely promising object for bioimaging based on photoluminescence (PL) in the visible and near-infrared spectral regions, but their efficient PL emission in aqueous suspension is typically observed after wet chemistry procedures leading to residual toxicity issues. Here, we introduce ultrapure laser-synthesized Si-based quantum dots (QDs), which are water-dispersible and exhibit bright exciton PL in the window of relative tissue transparency near 800 nm. Based on the laser ablation of crystalline Si targets in gaseous helium, followed by ultrasoundassisted dispersion of the deposited films in physiological saline, the proposed method avoids any toxic by-products during the synthesis. We demonstrate efficient contrast of the Si QDs in living cells by following the exciton PL. We also show that the prepared QDs do not provoke any cytoxicity effects while penetrating into the cells and efficiently accumulating near the cell membrane and in the cytoplasm. Combined with the possibility of enabling parallel therapeutic channels, ultrapure lasersynthesized Si nanostructures present unique object for cancer theranostic applications

Cytotoxicity control of silicon nanoparticles by biopolymer coating and ultrasound irradiation for cancer theranostic applications

Silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) prepared by mechanical grinding of luminescent porous silicon were coated with a biopolymer (dextran) and investigated as a potential theranostic agent for bioimaging and sonodynamic therapy. Transmission electron microscopy, photoluminescence and Raman scattering measurements of dextran-coated SiNPs gave evidence of their enhanced stability in water. In vitro experiments confirmed the. lower cytotoxicity of the dextran-coated NPs. in comparison with uncoated ones, especially for. high concentrations of about 2 mg ml(-1). Efficient uptake of the NPs. by cancer cells was found using bioimaging in the optical transmittance and photoluminescence modes. Treatment. of the cells with uptaken SiNPs by therapeutic ultrasound for 5-20 min resulted in a strong decrease in. the number of. living cells, while the total number of cells remained nearly unchanged. The obtained data indicate a ` mild' effect of the combined action of ultrasonic irradiation. and SiNPs on cancer cells. The observed results reveal new opportunities for. controlling the photoluminescent and sonosensitizing properties of silicon-based NPs. for applications in the diagnostics and mild therapy of cancer