Ce super(3+) sensitized GdPO sub(4):Tb super(3+) with iron oxide nanoparticles: a potential biphasic system for cancer theranostics

• Published in: Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry 2014-07, Vol.43 (30), p.11728-11738
• Main Authors: Sahu, Niroj Kumar, Singh, Naorem Shanta, Pradhan, Lina, Bahadur, Dhirendra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biotechnology; Cancer; Cellular; Effectiveness; Iron oxides; Luminescence; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/c4dt00792a

We report a biphasic system (BPS) consisting of PEGylated Tb super(3+)-doped GdPO sub(4) nanorice sensitized with Ce super(3+) (PEG-NRs) and glutamic acid coated iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) with multifunctional capabilities. The mesoporous PEG-NRs exhibit green light luminescence properties and a high degree of aqueous stability. Their drug loading and release capacities were investigated for anti-cancer chemo doxorubicin (DOX). Their mesoporous nature and availability of plenty of negatively charged functional groups (-COO super(-)) on the surface of PEG-NRs facilitate approximately 94 wt% DOX loading. In vitrostudies carried out for PEG-NRs and their biphasic integrated system with iron oxide using HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines demonstrated their cell killing efficacy. The green luminescence observed under confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) confirms the cellular uptake of PEG-NRs by HeLa cell lines and their accumulation in the cytoplasm. Approximately 50-55% of HeLa and MCF-7 cell death was observed after 24 h of incubation with DOX loaded BPS (2 mg IONPs and 0.25 mg PEG-NRs + DOX), which further increased to about 90% when exposed to an AC magnetic field (ACMF) for 25 min. Our findings demonstrate that the therapeutic efficacy of BPS loaded with DOX could be a powerful multimodal system for imaging and synergistic chemo-thermal cancer therapy.