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- Combination of chemotherapy and Au-nanoparticle photothermy in the visible light to tackle doxorubicin resistance in cancer cellsPublication . Pedrosa, Pedro; Mendes, Rita; Cabral, Rita; Martins, Luisa; Baptista, Pedro; Fernandes, AlexandraDespite great advances in the fight against cancer, traditional chemotherapy has been hindered by the dose dependent adverse side effects that reduce the usable doses for effective therapy. This has been associated to drug resistance in tumor cells that often cause relapse and therapy failure. These drawbacks have been tackled by combining different therapeutic regiments that prevent drug resistance while decreasing the chemotherapy dose required for efficacious ablation of cancer. In fact, new metallic compounds have been in a continuous development to extend the existing chemotherapy arsenal for these combined regimens. Here, we demonstrate that combination of a metallic compound (TS265), previously characterized by our group, with photothermy circumvents cells resistant to Doxorubicin (DOX). We first engendered a colorectal carcinoma cell line (HCT116) highly resistant to DOX, whose viability was diminished after administration of TS265. Cancer cell death was potentiated by challenging these cells with 14 nm spherical gold nanoparticles followed by laser irradiation at 532 nm. The combination of TS265 with photothermy lead to 65% cell death of the DOX resistant cells without impacting healthy cells. These results support the use of combined chemotherapy and photothermy in the visible spectrum as an efficient tool for drug resistant tumors.
- Multifunctional gold-nanoparticles: A nanovectorization tool for the targeted delivery of novel chemotherapeutic agentesPublication . Fernandes, Alexandra; Jesus, João; Martins, Pedro; Figueiredo, Sara; Rosa, Daniela; Martins, Luisa; Corvo, M. Luísa; Carvalheiro, Manuela; Costa, Pedro M.; Baptista, PedroDue to their small size and unique properties, multifunctional nanoparticles arise as versatile delivery systems easily grafted with a vast array of functional moieties, such as anticancer cytotoxic chemotherapeutics and targeting agents. Here, we formulated a multifunctional gold-nanoparticle (AuNP) system composed of a monoclonal antibody against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) (anti-EGFR D-11) for active targeting and a Co(II) coordination compound [CoCl(H2O)(phendione)2][BF4] (phendione = 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione) (TS265) with proven antiproliferative activity towards cancer cells (designated as TargetNanoTS265). The efficacy of this nanoformulation, and the non-targeted counterpart (NanoTS265), were evaluated in vitro using cancer cell models and in vivo using mice xenografts. Compared to the free compound, both nanoformulations (TargetNanoTS265 and NanoTS265) efficiently delivered the cytotoxic cargo in a controlled selective manner due to the active targeting, boosting tumor cytotoxicity. Treatment of HCT116-derived xenografts tumors with TargetNanoTS265 led to 93% tumor reduction. This simple conceptual nanoformulation demonstrates the potential of nanovectorization of chemotherapeutics via simple assembly onto AuNPs of BSA/HAS-drug conjugates that may easily be expanded to suit other cargo of novel compounds that require optimized controlled delivery to cancer target.
- Evaluation of cell toxicity and DNA and protein binding of green synthesized silver nanoparticlesPublication . Da Costa Ribeiro, Ana Paula; Anbu, S; Alegria, Elisabete; Fernandes, Alexandra; Baptista, Pedro; Mendes, Rita; Matias, A. S.; Mendes, M.; Guedes Da Silva, M. Fátima C.; Pombeiro, ArmandoSilver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were prepared by GREEN chemistry relying on the reduction of AgNO3 by phytochemicals present in black tea extract. AgNPs were fully characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy ((UV-vis)), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive absorption spectroscopy (EDS). The synthesized AgNPs induced a decrease of the cell viability in a dose-dependent manner with a low IC50 (0.5 +/- 0.1 mu M) for an ovarian carcinoma cell line (A2780) compared to primary human fibroblasts (IC50 5.0 +/- 0.1 mu M). The DNA binding capability of CT (calf thymus) DNA was investigated using electronic absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies, circular dichroism and viscosity titration methods. Additionally, the AgNPs strongly quench the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA, as determined by synchronous fluorescence spectra.
- Antiproliferative activity of heterometallic sodium and potassium-dioxidovanadium(V) polymersPublication . Sutradhar, Manas; Alegria, Elisabete; Ferretti, Francesco; Raposo, Luís R; Guedes Da Silva, M. Fátima C.; Baptista, Pedro; Fernandes, Alexandra; Pombeiro, ArmandoThe syntheses of the heterometallic sodium and potassium-dioxidovanadium 2D polymers, [NaVO2(1 kappa NOO';2 kappa O ''-L)(H2O)](n), (1) and [KVO2(1 kappa NOO';2 kappa O';3 kappa O ''-L)(EtOH)](n) (2) (where the kappa notation indicates the coordinating atoms of the polydentate ligand L) derived from (3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxybenzylidene)-2-hydroxybenzohydrazide (H2L) are reported. The polymers were characterized by IR, NMR, elemental analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The antiproliferative potential of 1 and 2 was examined towards four human cancer cell lines (ovarian carcinoma, A2780, colorectal carcinoma, HCT116, prostate carcinoma, PC3 and breast adenocarcinoma, MCF-7cell lines) and normal human fibroblasts. Complex 1 and 2 showed the highest cytotoxic activity against A2780 cell line (IC50 8.2 and 11.3 mu M, respectively) with 1 > 2 and an IC50 in the same range as cisplatin (IC50 3.4 mu M; obtained in the same experimental conditions) but, interestingly, with no cytotoxicity to healthy human fibroblasts for concentrations up to 75 mu M. This high cytotoxicity of 1 in ovarian cancer cells and its low cytotoxicity in healthy cells demonstrates its potential for further biological studies. Our results suggest that both complexes induce ovarian carcinoma cell death via apoptosis and autophagy, but autophagy is the main biological cause of the reduction of viability observed and that ROS (reactive oxygen species) may play an important role in triggering cell death.