The Influence of The Light-Activated Titania P25 on Human Breast Cancer Cells

Abstract

Cosmetics and other daily care products contain titanium(IV) oxide (titania). Since multiple risk factors can increase the chance of developing cancer, an evaluation of titania safety has become a matter of concern in recent times. However, it should be pointed out that titania as an efficient photocatalyst has been also applied for inactivation of various pathogens, environmental purification and energy conversion, which might result in significant improvement of human life. Therefore, it is worth considering titania not only as a possible cancer initiator, but also as an efficient solution against cancer cells. Accordingly, in this study, the effect of commercial titania photocatalyst P25 (Degussa/Evonik) on breast adenocarcinoma MCF7 cells (ATCC® HTB-22™, breast adenocarcinoma cell line from human) has been investigated. The cells were treated with titania at doses of 10, 30, and 50 µg/mL under UVA/vis irradiation and in the dark. The significant morphological alterations in living cells were observed for larger doses of titania, such as changes in the shape and the size of cells, the deviation from the normal structure, and an increase in cells’ mortality. Moreover, the effect was significantly higher under irradiation than in the dark confirming strong photocatalytic activity of titania P25. In contrast, the lowest dose of titania (10 µg/mL) did not exhibit a significant impact on MCF7 cells, similarly to the nontreated cells. Accordingly, it has been proposed that locally applied titania might be considered for a cancer therapy after necessary in vivo tests to estimate any possibilities of side effects.

Computer Simulations of Photocatalytic Reactors

“…Most kinetic models are based on the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) rate form, which includes the phenomenon of the adsorption of the reagent (usually pollutant) on the photocatalyst surface [76,77]. In slurry photocatalytic systems, degradation of the compound depends on the operating conditions, such as pH, temperature, irradiance, oxygen concentration, initial concentration of the compound, and photocatalyst loading (W cat ) [72,[78][79][80][81][82]:…”

Are Titania Photocatalysts and Titanium Implants Safe? Review on the Toxicity of Titanium Compounds

“…However, it should be noticed that an evaluation of ROS influence on direct tumour formation is rather difficult, due to their short lifetime [ 120 ]. Interestingly, titania has been proposed as an efficient agent for possible local treatment of cancer, e.g., an increase in cells’ mortality and significant morphological alterations in living cells for MCF7 (breast adenocarcinoma) have been observed with an increase in titania dose (from 10 to 50 mg/μL) and under ultraviolet (UV-A) irradiation (as compared with experiments in the dark) [ 121 ].…”

Plasmonic Photocatalysts for Microbiological Applications

“…Titania modified with glucose has also been proposed for water disinfection (e.g., by placing concrete plates covered with titania in aqueous reservoirs or disinfecting water in TiO2/concrete-covered containers used for storage of drinking water or fish farms), as exemplified for a home aquarium in Figure 2a [75]. Other microbiological applications of titania photocatalysts have also been proposed, including for biomedical purposes (e.g., for decomposition of human breast cancer cells ( Figure 2b) [80]). Accordingly, it has been considered that the release of Ag cations from carrier (free Ag cations in solution/suspension) is important for bactericidal activity [85][86][87][88][89].…”