title: Low doses of TiO2-polyethylene glycol nanoparticles stimulate proliferation of hepatocyte cells.
abstract: This paper describes the effect of low concentrations of 100 nm polyethylene glycol-modified TiO2nanoparticles (TiO2-PEG NPs) on HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Proliferation of HepG2 cells increased significantly when the cells were exposed to low doses (<100 μg ml-1) of TiO2-PEG NPs. These results were further confirmed by cell counting experiments and cell cycle assays. Cellular uptake assays were performed to determine why HepG2 cells proliferate with low-dose exposure to TiO2-PEG NPs. The results showed that exposure to lower doses of NPs led to less cellular uptake, which in turn decreased cytotoxicity. We therefore hypothesized that TiO2-PEG NPs could affect the activity of hepatocyte growth factor receptors (HGFRs), which bind to hepatocyte growth factor and stimulate cell proliferation. The localization of HGFRs on the surface of the cell membrane was detected via immunofluorescence staining and confocal microscopy. The results showed that HGFRs aggregate after exposure to TiO2-PEG NPs. In conclusion, our results indicate that TiO2-PEG NPs have the potential to promote proliferation of HepG2 cells through HGFR aggregation and suggest that NPs not only exhibit cytotoxicity but also affect cellular responses.
authors.affiliation: Cellular Functional Nanobiomaterials Group, Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan; Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Qingqing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Group, TOTO Ltd. Research Institute , Chigasaki , Japan.
authors.forename: Koki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kanehira
authors.affiliation: Cellular Functional Nanobiomaterials Group, Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan; Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Akiyoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
keywords: 211 Scaffold / Tissue engineering / Drug delivery; 30 Bio-inspired and biomedical materials; HGFRs aggregation; TiO2-PEG NPs; cell proliferation; cellular response; low-dose exposure