Abstract
The objective of this study was to study the synergistic antitumor effect of lipophilic bismuth nanoparticles (BisBAL NPs) with the antibiotic solution Neo-Poly gramicidin on human cervical tumor cells. The effect of BisBAL NPs and Neo-Poly gramicidin solution on cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) was determined by the MTT cell viability assay and fluorescence microscopy. After a 24-h exposure to 0.1× Neo-Poly gramicidin HeLa cell growth decreased 94%. Fluorescence microscopy confirmed the antitumor effect cell death was higher among treated than among non-treated cells cells. Individually, gramicidin (0.04 mg/mL) inhibited HeLa tumor cell growth most (40%), and neomycin (0.04 mg/mL) least (21%). Gramicidin (0.3 mg/mL) in combination with different concentrations (1–150 μM) of BisBAL NPs had a synergistic antitumor effect against HeLa cells, reaching an < 86% tumor growth inhibition. As far as we know, we are the first to describe the antitumor activity of the antibiotic Neo-Poly gramicidin on a human cervical cancer cell line. The action mechanism of gramicidin/BisBAL NP is based on a strong damage on cell membrane and nucleus of tumor cells. A synergistic effect of gramicidin with BisBAL NPs may be useful as an alternative therapy for cervical cancer patients.
Highlights
Cervical cancer is the fourth most prevalent cancer among females and is the second cause of cancer death in developing countries (Torre et al, 2015)
Chemotherapy is followed of surgery among the different options for the treatment of cervical cancer patients, conventional antitumor agents can be highly cytotoxic, promoting the leave of therapy (Seol et al, 2014)
More recent advances in biocompatibility of nanostructures employed as nanocarriers have attracted the attention to clinical therapeutics
Summary
Cervical cancer is the fourth most prevalent cancer among females and is the second cause of cancer death in developing countries (Torre et al, 2015). In 2013, 485,000 patients were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2013 and 236,000 died worldwide. Synergistic Antitumor Activity of Gramicidin/BisBAL NPs. According to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics guidelines, cervical cancer patients can be classified in: early-stage disease, locally advanced disease and advanced disease (Serrano-Olvera et al, 2015). Thirteen percent of cervical cancer patients are diagnosed at advanced stages. Many of them will develop recurrent disease at early stage of treatment and ∼90% of these females will die within 5 years (Elit et al, 2009; Adegoke et al, 2012). 16.5% of metastatic cervical patients will survive in comparison with 91.5% for localized cervical cancer (Ferlay et al, 2013)
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