title: Glucose is a key driver for GLUT1-mediated nanoparticles internalization in breast cancer cells.
abstract: The mesenchymal state in cancer is usually associated with poor prognosis due to the metastatic predisposition and the hyper-activated metabolism. Exploiting cell glucose metabolism we propose a new method to detect mesenchymal-like cancer cells. We demonstrate that the uptake of glucose-coated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) by mesenchymal-like cells remains constant when the glucose in the medium is increased from low (5.5 mM) to high (25 mM) concentration, while the MNPs uptake by epithelial-like cells is significantly reduced. These findings reveal that the glucose-shell of MNPs plays a major role in recognition of cells with high-metabolic activity. By selectively blocking the glucose transporter 1 channels we showed its involvement in the internalization process of glucose-coated MNPs. Our results suggest that glucose-coated MNPs can be used for metabolic-based assays aimed at detecting cancer cells and that can be used to selectively target cancer cells taking advantage, for instance, of the magnetic-thermotherapy.
authors.affiliation: PhD School of Nanotechnology, Department of Physics, Via Valerio 2, I-34127, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.|CNR-Institute of Materials, Area Science Park-Basovizza, S.S. 14, Km 163.5, I-34149 Trieste, Italy.|Department of Medical and Biological Sciences, Piazzale Kolbe 2, I-33100, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Venturelli
authors.affiliation: CNR-Institute of Materials, Area Science Park-Basovizza, S.S. 14, Km 163.5, I-34149 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nappini
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Biological Sciences, Piazzale Kolbe 2, I-33100, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bulfoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Biological Sciences, Piazzale Kolbe 2, I-33100, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gianfranceschi
authors.affiliation: CNR-Institute of Materials, Area Science Park-Basovizza, S.S. 14, Km 163.5, I-34149 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dal Zilio
authors.affiliation: PhD School of Nanotechnology, Department of Physics, Via Valerio 2, I-34127, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.|CNR-Institute of Materials, Area Science Park-Basovizza, S.S. 14, Km 163.5, I-34149 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coceano
authors.affiliation: PhD School of Nanotechnology, Department of Physics, Via Valerio 2, I-34127, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.|Department of Medical and Biological Sciences, Piazzale Kolbe 2, I-33100, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Del Ben
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Biological Sciences, Piazzale Kolbe 2, I-33100, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Turetta
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Biological Sciences, Piazzale Kolbe 2, I-33100, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacinto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scoles
authors.affiliation: Elettra Synchrotron Trieste, SISSI beamline, Area Science Park-Basovizza, S.S. 14, Km 163.5, I-34149 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vaccari
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Biological Sciences, Piazzale Kolbe 2, I-33100, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cesselli
authors.affiliation: CNR-Institute of Materials, Area Science Park-Basovizza, S.S. 14, Km 163.5, I-34149 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cojoc
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced; D061986:MCF-7 Cells; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; C495677:SLC2A1 protein, human; D005947:Glucose