Metabolic Disruption of Gold Nanospheres, Nanostars and Nanorods in Human Metastatic Prostate Cancer Cells

Sílvia Soares; Cláudia Pereira; André P Sousa; Ana Catarina Oliveira; Maria Goreti Sales; Miguel A Correa-Duarte; Susana G Guerreiro; Rúben Fernandes

doi:10.3390/cells12050787

Metabolic Disruption of Gold Nanospheres, Nanostars and Nanorods in Human Metastatic Prostate Cancer Cells

Cells. 2023 Mar 2;12(5):787. doi: 10.3390/cells12050787.

Authors

Sílvia Soares^{1

2

3

4

5

6}, Cláudia Pereira^{2

3

7}, André P Sousa^{2

3}, Ana Catarina Oliveira^{2

3}, Maria Goreti Sales^{1

5

8}, Miguel A Correa-Duarte^{9

10}, Susana G Guerreiro^{3

11

12}, Rúben Fernandes^{2

3

7}

Affiliations

¹ BioMark@ISEP/CEB, Center of Biological Engineering of Minho University, School of Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal.
² FP-I3ID, Universidade Fernando Pessoa (UFP), 4249-004 Porto, Portugal.
³ Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.
⁴ Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
⁵ CEB-Centre of Biological Engineering of Minho University, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
⁶ ICBAS-School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
⁷ Faculty of Health Sciences (FCS) & Hosptal Escola Fernando Pessoa (HEFP), University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), 4249-004 Porto, Portugal.
⁸ Biomark@UC/CEB, Centre of Biological Engineering of Minho University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Coimbra University, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal.
⁹ CINBIO, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
¹⁰ Southern Galicia Institute of Health Research (IISGS), Biomedical Research Networking Center for Mental Health (CIBERSAM), 36310 Madrid, Spain.
¹¹ Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto-IPATIMUP, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
¹² Department of Biomedicine, Biochemistry Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal.

Abstract

Nanomaterials offer a broad spectrum of applications in biomedicine. The shapes of gold nanoparticles could modulate tumor cell behavior. Spherical (AuNP_sp), stars (AuNP_st) and rods (AuNP_r) shapes of polyethylene glycol coated-gold nanoparticles (AuNPs-PEG) were synthesized. Metabolic activity, cellular proliferation, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured and the impact of AuNPs-PEG in metabolic enzymes function was evaluated by RT-qPCR in PC3, DU145, and LNCaP prostate cancer cells. All AuNPs were internalized, and the different morphologies of AuNPs showed to be an essential modulator of metabolic activity. For PC3 and DU145, the metabolic activity of AuNPs was found to rank in the following order from lowest to highest: AuNP_sp-PEG, AuNP_st-PEG, and AuNP_r-PEG. Regarding LNCaP cells, the AuNP_st-PEG were less toxic, followed by AuNP_sp-PEG and AuNP_r-PEG, but it seems not to be dose-dependent. The proliferation was lower in AuNP_r-PEG in PC3 and DU145 cells but was stimulated around 10% in most conditions (0.001-0.1 mM) in LNCaP cells (not statistically significant). For 1 mM, LNCaP cells showed a significant decrease in proliferation only for AuNP_r-PEG. The outcomes of the current study demonstrated that different AuNPs conformations influence cell behavior, and the correct size and shape must be chosen considering its final application in the field of nanomedicine.

Keywords: beta-oxidation; gluconeogenesis; glycolysis; gold nanoparticles; internalization; nanomedicine; reactive oxygen species.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Gold
Humans
Male
Metal Nanoparticles*
Nanospheres*
Nanotubes*
Prostatic Neoplasms*

Substances

Gold

Grants and funding

The author is grateful for the financial support of Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through project reference—2022.09032.PTDC and also to FCT through COMPETE to the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-024325.