International Journal of Nanomedicine (Jun 2020)
Quantification of Synergistic Effects of Ceragenin CSA-131 Combined with Iron Oxide Magnetic Nanoparticles Against Cancer Cells
Abstract
Ewelina Piktel,1 Karolina H Markiewicz,2 Agnieszka Z Wilczewska,2 Tamara Daniluk,1 Sylwia Chmielewska,1 Katarzyna Niemirowicz-Laskowska,1 Joanna Mystkowska,3 Paulina Paprocka,4 Paul B Savage,5 Robert Bucki1,4 1Department of Medical Microbiology and Nanobiomedical Engineering, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok 15-222, Poland; 2Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bialystok, Bialystok 15-245, Poland; 3Department of Materials and Biomedical Engineering, Białystok University of Technology, Białystok 15-351, Poland; 4Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Kielce 25-317, Poland; 5Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84604, USACorrespondence: Robert Bucki Email [email protected]: Therapeutic efficiency of ceragenins against cancers may be limited by lack of their hemocompatibility when high concentrations of molecules are required to reach a desired result. Synergistic effects observed upon administration of anticancer agents and metal nanoparticles may provide an opportunity to limit toxicity of immobilized ceragenins on the surface of metal nanoparticles and to improve their therapeutic efficiency at the same time. The aim of present work is to investigate the anticancer activities and hemocompatibility of nanoformulations consisting of ceragenin CSA-131 united with aminosilane-modified iron oxide-based magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) and prepared by 1) covalent bonding (MNP@CSA-131) or 2) by combining CSA-131 with MNP in 1:1 ratio (CSA-131 + MNP). Possible synergistic interactions between CSA-131 and magnetic nanoparticles were also quantified.Methods: MNP@CSA-131 and CSA-131+MNP were tested in vitro against selected lung and colon cancer cells using colorimetric, fluorimetric and flow cytometry methods.Results: Performed analysis demonstrates that MNP-based nanosystems significantly improve the killing efficiency of tested ceragenin, decreasing the viability of extra 1.37± 4.72% to 76.07± 15.30% cancer cells when compared to free CSA-131. Quantification of synergistic effects indicates the favorable interactions between CSA-131 and magnetic nanoparticles (CI < 1 for all tested doses), revealing at the same time a reduction in effective doses of ceragenin from 1.17 ± 0.61 to 34.57 ± 12.78 times when combined with MNP. We demonstrate that both MNP@CSA-131 and CSA-131+MNP induce significantly apoptosis of cancer cells and prevent the division of colon cancer cells even at relatively low doses of the active compound (10 μg/mL). Importantly, combining CSA-131 with MNP decreases the hemolytic activity of free ceragenin 4.72 to 7.88 times, which indicates a considerable improvement of hemotoxicity profile.Conclusion: Comparative analyses have revealed that both developed CSA-containing nanoformulations due to the utility of synergistic interactions between MNP and CSA-131, which are effective against lung and colon cancer cells. This indicates the new directions in preparation of MNP-based therapeutics, which are relatively easy to synthetize, cost-effective and safe when intravenously administrated.Keywords: ceragenins, anticancer activity, colon cancer, lung cancer, synergistic effects, combinatory therapy
