Effects of silver nanoparticles coated with anti-HER2 on irradiation efficiency of SKBR3 breast cancer cells

Abstract

Breast cancer is the second cause of death in the world. Ionising radiation is a potent mutagen that can cause DNA damage, chromosomes breakage, and cell death. In the present study, radiotherapy and nanoparticle-antibodies (ABs) have been combined to enhance the efficacy of cancer cell treatment. Silver nanoparticles (SNP) were synthesised, coated with anti-HER2, and then characterised with different techniques such as X-ray diffraction, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. SKBR3 cells were irradiated with cobalt-60 in the presence of nanoparticle-AB as the drug. Cell viability was measured using the diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, and the cellular status was assessed by Raman spectroscopy. Irradiation considerably decreased cell viability proportionate to the dose increase and post-irradiation time. The surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy increased the signal in the presence of SNP. Increasing the dose to 2 Gy increased the irradiation resistance, and higher dose increases (4 and 6 Gy) enhanced the irradiation sensitivity. Moreover, the cellular changes induced by irradiation in the presence of the drug were stable after 48 h. The authors results introduced the combination of the drug with radiation as an effective treatment for cancer and Raman spectroscopy as a suitable tool to diagnose effective irradiation doses.

Fig. 1

Nanoparticle characterisation (a) XRD diagram of the silver nanoparticle, (b) Particle size based on the number of particles (left) and size intensity, (c) TEM image of the SNP

Fig. 3

Spectrophotometer spectrum of SNP alone (black) and SNP coated by Herceptin AB (red)

Fig. 2

AB coating on SNP. FTIR spectrum of Ag, PMBA, Ag‐PMBA, AB (Herceptin), and Ag‐PMBA‐AB (Herceptin) are presented down to up, respectively

Fig. 4

SKBR3 cells’ viability evaluation (a) Viability of cell incubated in the presence of AB after 24, 48, and 72 h incubation, (b) Viability of SKBR3 cells in the presence of AB at 24, 48, and 72 h post‐irradiated with various doses of the gamma ray

Fig. 5

Raman spectra of anti‐HER2 in the absence and presence of Ag nanoparticles. SERS effect of the nanoparticles and the signal reinforcement verify the connection between the nanoparticles and anti‐HER2

Fig. 6

Two‐dimensional counterplot of Raman spectroscopy in the presence of Silver nanoparticle‐AB (a) 24 h post‐irradiated, (b) 48 h post‐irradiated. The number of cells irradiated with various doses of the gamma ray is presented on the left side of the panel, (c) Average Raman spectra for 24 h post‐irradiated, (d) Average Raman spectra for 48 h post‐irradiated cells

Fig. 7

Description of Raman spectra with compositions in detail for (a) 24 h post‐irradiated cells, (b) 48 h post‐irradiated cells

Fig. 8

Raman spectroscopy data analysis (a) PCA score of isolation of the 24 and 48 h post‐irradiated samples from each other, (b) Loading profile for the 24 and 48 h post‐irradiated samples in the presence of the drug, (c) Frequency repetition profile of the best wavelength for the separation of the 24 and 48 h post‐irradiated samples, (d) ROC analysis for the separation of the 24 form the 48 h post‐irradiated sample (left) and vice versa (right)