Mesenchymal Stem Cells Aggregate and Deliver Gold Nanoparticles to Tumors for Photothermal Therapy.
Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been extensively studied for photothermal cancer therapy because AuNPs can generate heat upon near-infrared irradiation. However, improving their tumor-targeting efficiency and optimizing the nanoparticle size for maximizing the photothermal effect remain challenging. We demonstrate that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can aggregate pH-sensitive gold nanoparticles (PSAuNPs) in mildly acidic endosomes, target tumors, and be used for photothermal therapy. These aggregated structures had a higher cellular retention in comparison to pH-insensitive, control AuNPs (cAuNPs), which is important for the cell-based delivery process. PSAuNP-laden MSCs (MSC-PSAuNPs) injected intravenously to tumor-bearing mice show a 37-fold higher tumor-targeting efficiency (5.6% of the injected dose) and 8.3 °C higher heat generation compared to injections of cAuNPs after irradiation, which results in a significantly enhanced anticancer effect.
Seokyung
S
Kang
School of Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University , Suwon 440-746, Republic of Korea.
Suk Ho
SH
Bhang
Sekyu
S
Hwang
Jeong-Kee
JK
Yoon
Jaejung
J
Song
Hyeon-Ki
HK
Jang
Sungjee
S
Kim
Byung-Soo
BS
Kim
D000818:Animals; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005260:Female; D006046:Gold / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced / Q000379:methods; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010789:Phototherapy / Q000379:methods
D006046:Gold
gold nanoparticles; mesenchymal stem cells; pH-sensitive; photothermal therapy; tumor tropism