Pancreatic carcinoma cells are susceptible to noninvasive radio frequency fields after treatment with targeted gold nanoparticles.

BACKGROUND

Gold and carbon nanoparticles absorb nonionizing radio frequency (RF) energy and release heat. Solid gold nanoparticles are delivered to cancer cells via conjugation with targeting antibodies. Here, 20-nm gold particles were conjugated to cetuximab, which is an epidermal growth factor receptor-1 (EGFR-1) antibody.

METHODS

A pancreatic carcinoma cell line that highly expresses EGFR-1, Panc-1, and Cama-1, which is a breast carcinoma cell line that minimally expresses EGFR-1, were treated with 100-nmol/L cetuximab-conjugated gold nanoparticles for 3 h (n = 4). Thirty-six hours later, the dishes were placed in an RF field with a generator power of 200 W for 5 min. After another 36 h, cell injury and death were evaluated with flow cytometry.

RESULTS

The targeted cell line Panc-1 had a viability of 46% +/- 12%, whereas the Cama-1 cell had a viability of 92% +/- 2% after RF field exposure (P < .008). Transmission electron microscopy showed gold nanoparticle uptake in Panc-1 cells but negligible uptake by Cama-1 cells. Nontargeted cells do not internalize a sufficient amount of antibody-conjugated gold nanoparticles to induce injury in a noninvasive RF field.

CONCLUSION

This technique could be useful in cancer treatment if a cancer-specific antibody is used to localize gold nanoparticles to malignant cells.