Biofabrication of silver nanoparticles and their combined effect with low intensity ultrasound for treatment of lung cancer

Publication date: Available online 6 March 2018
Source:Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology
Author(s): Xiaohong Zhang, Can Xiao
Ablation treatments are the minimally invasive surgical procedures that are used to treat early stage cancers. High intensity ultrasonic treatments that are used to treat solid cancers are not much successful in differentiating between healthy and cancerous cells. In this study, a method of combining ultrasound treatment with Garcinia mangostana bark extract mediated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was extended by making use of human lung epithelial cells, that could preferentially destruct the cancerous cells. Flow cytometry analysis is used to study the effect of ultrasound and AgNPs on cancerous (A549) cell lines and healthy (BEAS-2B) lung cells by means of counting viable cells (Q4). These experimental data showed a minor decline in the percentage of living cells from (66.8 ± 3.2) to (56 ± 6.2) % after the addition of bark extract synthesized AgNPs to the US-treated normal BEAS- 2B cell lines. However, the percentage of live A549 cancer cells presented a significant reduction from (61.4 ± 4.2) % for US-treated cells to (28.7 ± 6.4) % for the combination treatment of US with AgNPs. This study conducted against various cell lines denoted that nanoparticle-assisted ultrasound therapy (NAUT) could serve as an effective novel means for targeted destruction of cancer cells.

Graphical abstract