Selective ex-vivo photothermal ablation of human pancreatic cancer with albumin functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

The process of laser-mediated ablation of cancer cells marked with biofunctionalized carbon nanotubes is frequently called “nanophotothermolysis”. We herein present a method of selective nanophotothermolisys of pancreatic cancer (PC) using multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) functionalized with human serum albumin (HSA). With the purpose of testing the therapeutic value of these nanobioconjugates, we have developed an ex-vivo experimental platform. Surgically resected specimens from patients with PC were preserved in a cold medium and kept alive via intra-arterial perfusion. Additionally, the HSA-MWCNTs have been intra-arterially administered in the greater pancreatic artery under ultrasound guidance. Confocal and transmission electron microscopy combined with immunohistochemical staining have confirmed the selective accumulation of HSA-MWCNTs inside the human PC tissue. The external laser irradiation of the specimen has significantly produced extensive necrosis of the malign tissue after the intra-arterial administration of HSA-MWCNTs, without any harmful effects on the surrounding healthy parenchyma. We have obtained a selective photothermal ablation of the malign tissue based on the selective internalization of MWCNTs with HSA cargo inside the pancreatic adenocarcinoma after the ex-vivo intra-arterial perfusion.

<p>Malachite green-conjugated multi-walled carbon nanotubes potentiate antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation of planktonic cells and biofilms of <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em> and <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em></p>

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Smart Materials Meet Multifunctional Biomedical Devices: Current and Prospective Implications for Nanomedicine

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“…Mocan T, et al 102 studied the PTA effects of PEGylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes on Panc-1 cells and the mechanism by which they induced cellular apoptosis. These authors also developed human albumin functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (HAS-MWCNTs) that could induce selective photothermal ablation of pancreatic cancer under laser irradiation 104 . In that study, surgically resected specimens from patients with pancreatic cancer were preserved ex vivo and infused intra-arterially with HSA-MWCNTs via the greater pancreatic artery under ultrasound guidance.…”