Synthesis and characterization of magnetic nanoparticles coated with polystyrene sulfonic acid for biomedical applications.

The development of novel magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with satisfactory biocompatibility for biomedical applications has been the subject of extensive exploration over the past two decades. In this work, we synthesized superparamagnetic iron oxide MNPs coated with polystyrene sulfonic acid (PSS-MNPs) and with a conventional co-precipitation method. The core size and hydrodynamic diameter of the PSS-MNPs were determined as 8-18 nm and 50-200 nm with a transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering, respectively. The saturation magnetization of the particles was measured as 60 emu g-1 with a superconducting quantum-interference-device magnetometer. The PSS content in the PSS-MNPs was 17% of the entire PSS-MNPs according to thermogravimetric analysis. Fourier-transform infrared spectra were recorded to detect the presence of SO3 - groups, which confirmed a successful PSS coating. The structural properties of the PSS-MNPs, including the crystalline lattice, composition and phases, were characterized with an X-ray powder diffractometer and 3D nanometer-scale Raman microspectrometer. MTT assay and Prussian-blue staining showed that, although PSS-MNPs caused no cytotoxicity in both NIH-3T3 mouse fibroblasts and SK-HEP1 human liver-cancer cells up to 1000 µg mL-1, SK-HEP1 cells exhibited significantly greater uptake of PSS-MNPs than NIH-3T3 cells. The low cytotoxicity and high biocompatibility of PSS-MNPs in human cancer cells demonstrated in the present work might have prospective applications for drug delivery.

Combined Dynamic Alterations in Urinary VEGF Levels and Tissue ADAM9 Expression as Markers for Lethal Phenotypic Progression of Prostate Cancer.

Recent evidence has demonstrated that detection of changes in the levels of urinary vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and tissue a disintegrin and metalloproteinase 9 (ADAM9) is effective in determining prostate cancer progression. To evaluate the combined application of VEGF and ADAM9 as early progression markers of lethal phenotypic cancer, quantification of urinary VEGF and tissue ADAM9 expression was studied in patients with late stage prostate cancer. Tissue biopsies were collected during palliative transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) surgery, and urine samples were collected before hormone therapy and 3, 6 and 12 months post-TURP. We observed a nearly 100% correlation between increasing urinary VEGF levels over time and prostate cancer progression, but no correlation was observed when comparing urinary VEGF concentrations at a single time point and cancer progression. In addition, we also observed correlation of increasing ADAM9 nuclear positive staining and lethal phenotypic transition. Statistical analysis revealed that both the increase in urinary VEGF level and the presence of the tissue ADAM9 nuclear staining were significantly correlated with the risk of patients with relapse prostate cancer (P < 0.05). Thus, we suggest that combination of detection of changes in urinary VEGF and tissue staining of ADAM9 may be accurate for predicting the mortality of patients with prostate cancer during hormone therapy.

Extracellular and intracellular intermittent magnetic-fluid hyperthermia treatment of SK-Hep1 hepatocellular carcinoma cells based on magnetic nanoparticles coated with polystyrene sulfonic acid.

The use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) magnetized on applying an alternating magnetic field (AMF) to stimulate the thermal characteristics and to induce tumor apoptosis is a currently active area of research in cancer treatment. In previous work, we developed biocompatible and superparamagnetic polystyrene-sulfonic-acid-coated magnetic nanoparticles (PSS-MNPs) as applications for magnetically labeled cell trapping, but without assessment of treatment effects on tumor diseases. In the present work, we examined PSS-MNP-induced magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH) on SK-Hep1 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells for lethal thermal effects with a self-made AMF system; an adjustable AMF frequency generated a variable intensity of magnetic field and induced MNP relaxation. The extracellular and intracellular MFH treatments on a SK-Hep1 cell line were implemented in vitro; the result indicates that the lethal effects were efficient and caused a significantly decreased cell viability of SK-Hep1 cells. As the PSS-MNP concentration decreased, especially in intracellular MFH treatments, the MFH effects on cells, however, largely decreased through heat spreading to the culture medium. On controlling and decreasing the volume of culture medium, the problem of heat spreading was solved. It can be consequently expected that PSS-MNPs would be a prospective agent for intracellular cancer magnetotherapy.

In vivo targeting of ADAM9 gene expression using lentivirus-delivered shRNA suppresses prostate cancer growth by regulating REG4 dependent cell cycle progression.

Cancer cells respond to stress by activating a variety of survival signaling pathways. A disintegrin and metalloproteinase (ADAM) 9 is upregulated during cancer progression and hormone therapy, functioning in part through an increase in reactive oxygen species. Here, we present in vitro and in vivo evidence that therapeutic targeting of ADAM9 gene expression by lentivirus-delivered small hairpin RNA (shRNA) significantly inhibited proliferation of human prostate cancer cell lines and blocked tumor growth in a murine model of prostate cancer bone metastasis. Cell cycle studies confirmed an increase in the G1-phase and decrease in the S-phase population of cancer cells under starvation stress conditions, which correlated with elevated intracellular superoxide levels. Microarray data showed significantly decreased levels of regenerating islet-derived family member 4 (REG4) expression in prostate cancer cells with knockdown of ADAM9 gene expression. This REG4 downregulation also resulted in induction of expression of p21(Cip1/WAF1), which negatively regulates cyclin D1 and blocks the G1/S transition. Our data reveal a novel molecular mechanism of ADAM9 in the regulation of prostate cancer cell proliferation, and suggests a combined modality of ADAM9 shRNA gene therapy and cytotoxic agents for hormone refractory and bone metastatic prostate cancer.