Impact of silver, gold, and iron oxide nanoparticles on cellular response to tumor necrosis factor

Metallic nanomaterials are utilized in an increasing number of applications in medicine and industry. Their general toxicity was tested in numerous reports both in vitro and in vivo but limited data exist on how nanomaterials affect the activity of cellular signaling pathways activated by growth factors and cytokines. The aim of the present work was to test the hypothesis predicting that silver, gold and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles may interfere with cellular signaling activated by tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and change the final cellular outcome of TNF action. Such interference may result in disruption of homeostasis and contribute to the development of malignancies such as cancer or autoimmune diseases. Experiments were performed on HepG2 and A549 cell lines. We did not observe any interaction between nanoparticles and TNF at the level of clonogenic growth, apoptosis/necrosis induction or cell cycle. At all these endpoints, the effects of TNF and nanoparticles were additive. In contrast, gene expression analysis revealed synergistic effects. A group of genes was significantly affected only by simultaneous treatment with TNF and nanoparticles and not by any of the factors alone. Observed synergistic effect on IL10 and IL8 expression seems to be of particular importance since these cytokines are often expressed by tumor cells to inhibit tumor-targeted immune response. The observed synergistic effects of TNF and nanoparticles on cytokines expression may have significant consequences for tissue homeostasis and tumor promotion and therefore should be taken into account during development of new nanoparticle-based anticancer therapies.