Abstract
Lung cancer relapse and post-treatment dissemination suggest the presence of drug resistant populations of cells called cancer stem cells (CSCs). Cancer metastases and the risk of secondary tumours are the most frequent causes of mortality in many cases. One important feature of lung cancer prognosis is metastases and the invasive ability of the cells, which is driven by CSCs. Considering CSC proliferation and migration associated with metastases, therapeutic strategies targeting these CSCs are considered to improve long-term clinical outcome. A minimally invasive, clinically approved cancer treatment, Photodynamic therapy (PDT), along with the use of a nano drug carrier was used in this study. PDT is based on the principle of light stimulation of a photosensitising drug that induces tumour cell death. Nano-mediated PDT using gold nanoparticles has been seen to induce cell death in lung CSCs. In this study, morphological examination and various physiological experiments including migration, proliferation, cytotoxicity, population doubling time, and cell cycle analysis assay were conducted to determine whether PDT using a gold nano sensitiser prevents CSC migration and invasion. Results show that the use of nanoPDT, using a AlPcS4Cl and AuNPs conjugate, can inhibit CSC migration and invasion, induce cell cycle arrest, and decrease CSC proliferative abilities. The use of a drug nano carrier in the form of AuNPs can improve the effectivity of PDT cancer treatment, and specifically facilitate the inhibition of metastasis seen in lung cancer caused by CSCs, which can clinically relate to an improved prognosis.
Supplementary Materials
The poster can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/ECMC2022-13185/s1.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, A.C.; methodology, A.C.; validation, A.C. and H.A.; formal analysis, A.C.; investigation, A.C.; resources, A.C. and H.A.; writing—original draft preparation, A.C.; writing—review and editing, A.C. and H.A.; visualization, A.C.; supervision, H.A.; project administration, A.C. and H.A.; funding acquisition, A.C. and H.A. All authors have read and agreed to the final version of the manuscript.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) S&F -Scarce Skills Postdoctoral Fellowship (Grant no: 120752) received by Anine Crous; and the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation of South Africa (SARChI/DST-NRF) (Grant no: 98337) received by Prof Heidi Abrahamse.
Institutional Review Board Statement
The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board faculty of health sciences research ethics committee (NHREC Registration: REC 241112-035) clearance was approved on the 3rd of May 2021, Clearance Number REC-01-472-2020. This study used commercialised cell lines procured from an accredited cell line repository and distributor, the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) (A549, CCL-185™; Het-1A, CRL-2692™), that adheres to ethical standards for obtaining human biological tissue and is BSI_ISO_9001 certified. The study did not involve humans or animals.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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