Mitochondria-Mediated Protein Regulation Mechanism of Polymorphs-Dependent Inhibition of Nanoselenium on Cancer Cells

Abstract

The present study was (i) to prepare two types of selenium nanoparticles, namely an amorphous form of selenium quantum dots (A-SeQDs) and a crystalline form of selenium quantum dots (C-SeQDs); and (ii) to investigate the nano-bio interactions of A-SeQDs and C-SeQDs in MCF-7, HepG2, HeLa, NIH/3T3, L929 cells and BRL-3A cells. It was found that A-SeQDs could induce the mitochondria-mediated apoptosis, necrosis and death of cells, while C-SeQDs had much weaker effects. This polymorphs-dependent anti-proliferative activity of nano-selenium was scarcely reported. Further investigation demonstrated that A-SeQDs could differentially regulate 61 proteins and several pathways related to stress response, protein synthesis, cell migration and cell cycle, including p38 MAPK Signaling, p53 Signaling, 14-3-3-mediated Signaling, p70S6K Signaling and Protein Ubiquitination Pathway. This was the first report to demonstrate the involvement of protein synthesis and post-translational modification pathways in the anti-proliferative activity associated with NMs. Compared with previously fragmentary studies, this study use a nanomics approach combining bioinformatics and proteomics to systematically investigate the nano-bio interactions of selenium nanoparticles in cancer cells.