3 research outputs found
Photodynamic treatment of human breast and prostate cancer cells using rose bengal-encapsulated nanoparticles
Cancer, a prominent cause of death, presents treatment challenges, including high dosage requirements, drug resistance, poor tumour penetration and systemic toxicity in traditional chemotherapy. Photodynamic therapy, using photosensitizers like rose bengal (RB) with a green laser, shows promise against breast cancer cells in vitro. However, the hydrophilic RB struggles to efficiently penetrate the tumour site due to the unique clinical microenvironment, aggregating around rather than entering cancer cells. In this study, we have synthesized and characterized RB-encapsulated chitosan nanoparticles with a peak particle size of ~200 nm. These nanoparticles are readily nternalized by cells and, in combination with a green laser (λ = 532 nm) killed 94â98% of cultured human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and prostate cancer cells (PC3) at a low dosage (25 ÎŒg/mL RB-nanoparticles, fluence ~126 J/cm2, and irradiance ~0.21 W/cm2). Furthermore, these nanoparticles are not toxic to cultured human normal breast cells (MCF10A), which opens an avenue for translational applications
[In Press] Fabrication and characterization of chitosan nanoparticles using the coffee-ring effect for photodynamic therapy
Background and Objectives: Biocompatible nanoparticles have been increasingly
used in a variety of medical applications, including photodynamic therapy. Although the impact of synthesis parameters and purification methods is reported in previous studies, it is still challenging to produce a reliable protocol for the fabrication, purification, and characterization of nanoparticles in the 200â300 nm range that are highly monodisperse for biomedical applications.
Study Design/Materials and Methods: We investigated the synthesis of chitosan
nanoparticles in the 200â300 nm range by evaluating the chitosan to sodium
tripolyphosphate (TPP) mass ratio and acetic acid concentration of the chitosan
solution. Chitosan nanoparticles were also crosslinked to rose bengal and incubated with human breast cancer cells (MCFâ7) to test photodynamic activity
using a green laser (λ = 532 nm, power = 90 mW). Results: We established a simple protocol to fabricate and purify biocompatible nanoparticles with the most frequent size occurring between 200 and 300 nm. This was achieved using a chitosan to TPP mass ratio of 5:1 in 1% v/v acetic acid at a pH of 5.5. The protocol involved the formation of nanoparticle coffee rings that showed the particle shape to be spherical in the first approximation. Photodynamic treatment with rose bengalânanoparticles killed ~98% of cancer cells.
Conclusion: A simple protocol was established to prepare and purify spherical and biocompatible chitosan nanoparticles with a peak size of ~200 nm. These have
remarkable antitumor activity when coupled with photodynamic treatment
[In Press] Rose bengalâencapsulated chitosan nanoparticles for the photodynamic treatment of Trichophyton species
Rose bengal (RB) solutions coupled with a green laser have proven to be efficient in clearing resilient nail infections caused by Trichophyton rubrum in a human pilot study and in extensive in vitro experiments. Nonetheless, the RB solution can become diluted or dispersed over the tissue and prevented from penetrating the nail plate to reach the subungual area where fungal infection proliferates. Nanoparticles carrying RB can mitigate the problem of dilution and are reported to effectively penetrate through the nail. For this reason, we have synthesized RB-encapsulated chitosan nanoparticles with a peak distribution size of ~200 nm and high reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. The RB-encapsulated chitosan nanoparticles aPDT were shown to kill more than 99% of T. rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, and T. interdigitale spores, which are the common clinically relevant pathogens in onychomycosis. These nanoparticles are not cytotoxic against human fibroblasts, which promotes their safe application in clinical translation