title: Barium titanate core--gold shell nanoparticles for hyperthermia treatments.
abstract: The development of new tools and devices to aid in treating cancer is a hot topic in biomedical research. The practice of using heat (hyperthermia) to treat cancerous lesions has a long history dating back to ancient Greece. With deeper knowledge of the factors that cause cancer and the transmissive window of cells and tissues in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, hyperthermia applications have been able to incorporate the use of lasers. Photothermal therapy has been introduced as a selective and noninvasive treatment for cancer, in which exogenous photothermal agents are exploited to achieve the selective destruction of cancer cells. In this manuscript, we propose applications of barium titanate core-gold shell nanoparticles for hyperthermia treatment against cancer cells. We explored the effect of increasing concentrations of these nanoshells (0-100 μg/mL) on human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, testing the internalization and intrinsic toxicity and validating the hyperthermic functionality of the particles through near infrared (NIR) laser-induced thermoablation experiments. No significant changes were observed in cell viability up to nanoparticle concentrations of 50 μg/mL. Experiments upon stimulation with an NIR laser revealed the ability of the nanoshells to destroy human neuroblastoma cells. On the basis of these findings, barium titanate core-gold shell nanoparticles resulted in being suitable for hyperthermia treatment, and our results represent a promising first step for subsequent investigations on their applicability in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Center for Micro-BioRobotics @SSSA, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy. elmira.farrokhtakin@iit.it
authors.forename: Elmira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: FarrokhTakin
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ciofani
authors.forename: Gian Luigi
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Puleo
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: de Vito
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Filippeschi
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mazzolai
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Piazza
authors.forename: Virgilio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mattoli
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017609:Barium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced / Q000295:instrumentation*; D057145:Nanoshells / Q000737:chemistry*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D017609:Barium Compounds; C024547:barium titanate(IV); D006046:Gold; D014025:Titanium
keywords: NIR stimulation; barium titanate nanoparticles; gold nanoshells; human neuroblastoma