Hollow gold nanoparticles loaded with L-buthionine-sulfoximine as a novel nanomedicine for in vitro cancer cell therapy

Abstract

A novel nanomedicine, constructed by simultaneously binding L-buthionine-sulfoximine (BSO) and thiolated polyethylene glycol (PEG) to the surface of 100 nm hollow gold nanoparticles (HAuNS), was expected to be used in effective therapeutics of cancer. The current study is aimed at evaluating in vitro the antitumor efficacy of newly synthesized BSO-loaded PEG-SH-HAuNS (BSO@HAuNS) with strong resonances in near-infrared (NIR) as a chemotherapy agents against a line of human lung cancer cells (A549). Here, we conducted cytotoxicity assays and found BSO@HAuNS to efficiently kill human lung cancer cells by ROS generation, indicating that BSO facilitated an increased susceptibility of cancer cells to PEG-SH-HAuNS. Based on flow cytometry analysis, BSO@HAuNS can induce apoptosis and necrosis in mitochondrial-dependent pathway in A549 cells. Our results revealed a novel class of nanomedicine with high potential to be implemented as effective chemotherapy agents for patients diagnosed with unresectable lung cancer.