Selective killing of cancer cells by nanoparticle-assisted ultrasound.
BACKGROUND
Intense ultrasound, such as that used for tumor ablation, does not differentiate between cancerous and normal cells. A method combining ultrasound and biocompatible gold or magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) was developed under in vitro conditions using human breast and lung epithelial cells, which causes ultrasound to preferentially destroy cancerous cells.


RESULTS
Co-cultures of BEAS-2B normal lung cells and A549 cancerous lung cells labeled with green and red fluorescent proteins, respectively, were treated with focused ultrasound beams with the addition of gold and magnetic nanoparticles. There were significantly more necrotic A549 cells than BEAS-2 cells when gold nanoparticles were added to the culture medium [(50.6 ± 15.1) vs. (7.4 ± 2.9) %, respectively, P < 0.01]. This selective damage to cancer cells was also observed for MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells relative to MCF-10A normal breast cells after treatment with magnetic nanoparticles.


CONCLUSIONS
The data obtained for different cell lines indicate that nanoparticle-assisted ultrasound therapy (NAUT) could be an effective new tool for cancer-specific treatment and could potentially be combined with conventional methods of cancer diagnosis and therapy to further increase the overall cancer cure rate.
Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 211, Taiwan.
Olga K
OK
Kosheleva
Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 211, Taiwan.
Tsung-Ching
TC
Lai
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan.
Nelson G
NG
Chen
Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 211, Taiwan. mhsiao@gate.sinica.edu.tw.
Michael
M
Hsiao
Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 211, Taiwan. winschen@gate.sinica.edu.tw.
Chung-Hsuan
CH
Chen
D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D005260:Female; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014464:Ultrasonic Therapy / Q000379:methods*
D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D006046:Gold
Cancer cells; Nanoparticles; Ultrasound therapy