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

ABSTRACT

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.