title: Inulin coated plasmonic gold nanoparticles as a tumor-selective tool for cancer therapy.
abstract: Polymer coated gold nanospheres are proposed as a tumor selective carrier for the anticancer drug doxorubicin. Thiolated polyethyleneglycol (PEG-SH) and an inulin-amino derivative based copolymer (INU-EDA) were used as stabilizing and coating materials for 40 nm gold nanospheres. The resulting polymer coated gold nanospheres (Au@PEG-INU) showed excellent physicochemical stability and potential stealth like behavior. The system was loaded with doxorubicin (Au@PEG-INU/Doxo) and its cytotoxicity profile was evaluated on human cervical cancer cells (HeLa) and lung cancer cells (A549), as compared to Au@PEG-INU and doxorubicin alone. Cytotoxicity assays showed that the system is able to drastically reduce cell viability upon incubation for 3 days. This result was supported by the ability of Au@PEG-INU/Doxo to be internalized by cancer cells and to release doxorubicin, as assessed by fluorescence microscopy. Finally, a cancer/non cancer cell co-culture model was used to display the advantageous therapeutic effects of the proposed system with respect to doxorubicin alone, thereby demonstrating the ability of Au@PEG-INU/Doxo to preferentially accumulate in tumor cells due to their enhanced metabolism, and to selectively kill target cells.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biocompatible Polymers , Department of Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , University of Palermo , Via Archirafi, 32 , 90123 Palermo , Italy . Email: mariano.licciardi@unipa.it ; ; Tel: +39 091 23891927.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Li Volsi
authors.affiliation: Bionanoplasmonics Laboratory , CIC biomaGUNE , Paseo de Miramón 182 , 20009 Donostia San-Sebastian , Spain . Email: llizmarzan@cicbiomagune.es.
authors.forename: Dorleta
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jimenez de Aberasturi
authors.affiliation: Bionanoplasmonics Laboratory , CIC biomaGUNE , Paseo de Miramón 182 , 20009 Donostia San-Sebastian , Spain . Email: llizmarzan@cicbiomagune.es.
authors.forename: Malou
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Henriksen-Lacey
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biocompatible Polymers , Department of Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , University of Palermo , Via Archirafi, 32 , 90123 Palermo , Italy . Email: mariano.licciardi@unipa.it ; ; Tel: +39 091 23891927 ; Mediterranean Center for Human Health Advanced Biotechnologies (Med-CHAB) , Palermo , Italy.
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giammona
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biocompatible Polymers , Department of Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , University of Palermo , Via Archirafi, 32 , 90123 Palermo , Italy . Email: mariano.licciardi@unipa.it ; ; Tel: +39 091 23891927 ; Mediterranean Center for Human Health Advanced Biotechnologies (Med-CHAB) , Palermo , Italy.
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Licciardi
authors.affiliation: Bionanoplasmonics Laboratory , CIC biomaGUNE , Paseo de Miramón 182 , 20009 Donostia San-Sebastian , Spain . Email: llizmarzan@cicbiomagune.es; Ikerbasque , Basque Foundation for Science , 48013 Bilbao , Spain ; Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials, and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN) , Paseo de Miramón 182 , 20009 Donostia-San Sebastian , Spain.
authors.forename: Luis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Liz-Marzán