Combination of Ruthenium Dendrimers and Acoustically Propelled Gold Nanowires as a Platform for Active Intracellular Drug Delivery Towards Breast Cancer Therapy

Abstract

In this work, a new class of fluorescently labeled metallodendrimers based on ruthenium and possessing anticancer activity (FITC-CRD13) is combined with graphene oxide modified gold nanowires (GO-AuNWs). The resulting complexes were tested as active intracellular transporters being propelled by ultrasound field (US) and using breast cancer cells as a model. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis confirmed the successful modification of GO-AuNWs by dendrimers as shown by the uniform presence of ruthenium over the nanomotor structure corresponding to the ruthenium groups of FITC-CRD13. The binding of dendrimers to the surface of GO-AuNWs was accompanied by quenching their fluorescence signal. Upon the application of an ultrasound field (5 min, 2 V, 2.66 MHz), the complexes were propelled towards MCF7 breast cancer cells, detaching from the GO-nanomotor surface and thus recovering the dendrimer fluorescence signal. Fluorescence signal from US-treated samples was ~1.8 fold higher compared to passive controls. The results obtained in this work suggest that US-propelled AuNWs lead to faster cell internalization, hence accelerating the delivery of the carbosilane ruthenium dendrimers (CRD) payload inside MCF7 cells.