Abstract 2534: Anti-LOXL2 conjugated gold nanoparticles: therapeutic probes for pancreatic cancer

Abstract

Abstract PURPOSE: Multi-functional gold nanoparticles may play an important role in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using these anti-LOXL2 conjugated gold nanoparticles (anti-LOXL2@GoldMag) as therapeutic probes for the treatment of human pancreatic cancer cells. MATERIALS & METHODS: Human pancreatic cancer cell lines (PANC-1, BxPC-3 and Capan-1 cells) was used in this study. Western blot of LOXL2 expression in three cell lines were analyzed and compared to EGFR proteins. GoldMag, the hybrid gold shell and iron oxide core nanoparticles were purchases and their imaging characteristics (R2 and R2* relativity) was measured. Anti-LOXL2@GoldMag probes were constructed according to the instruction and the coupling efficacy of anti-LOXL2 antibodies with GoldMag were tested using a mass spectrophotometer. The specific targeting efficacy of anti-LOXL2@GoldMag was tested using immunofluorescence staining and electronic microscope. Pancreatic cancer cells were treated with anti-LOXL2@GoldMag at the concentrations of 0, 35, 70, 140 and 280 μg/ml and compared to anti-LOXL2 treatment alone at the same dosing concentration. After allowing for 48 hours incubation, the remaining number of viable cells was counted using trypan blue staining; cell proliferation percentage was calculated based on the total number of viable cells after treatment compared to the controls. RESULTS: The therapeutic efficacy of anti-LOXL2@GoldMag demonstrated similar therapeutic efficacy at both lower dose (18-51% reduced total viable cells) and enhanced therapeutic efficacy at the higher dose (86-99% reduced total viable cells) when compared to LOXL2 antibody alone. This suggests that binding of the LOXL2 antibodies to the GoldMag nanoparticles doesn't inhibit immunotherapeutic efficacy. MRI studies demonstrated that R2 and R2* measurements were well correlated to GoldMag probe concentrations. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrated significant anti-neoplastic efficacy in three different human pancreatic cancer cell lines. MRI could serve as a non-invasive imaging method to monitor the biodistribution of gold nanoparticles. Further pre-clinical investigations are now warranted in animal models of pancreatic cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2534. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2534