Photothermal Therapy Using Ag/TiO2 Core-Shell Nanoparticles Against Breast Cancer Cell Line: an In Vitro and In Vivo...

Introduction: Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquid (PLAL) is considered a facile and green method for synthesizing nanoparticles (NPs) with no byproducts formed during the synthesis process. Compared to other traditional treatment strategies, photothermal therapy (PTT) is considered a powerful alternative anti-tumor treatment methods. Ag/TiO₂ core-shell NPs were determined as a photothermal agent in the NIR-II window in the biomedical field. The anti-tumor effect (in vitro) and safety study (in vivo) of Ag/TiO₂ core-shell NPs were conducted in the current study. Methods: TiO₂ nanoparticle colloid was prepared by PLAL using a fiber laser (1060 nm), In order to achieve a nanoparticle core-shell, Ag NPs were added to the as-prepared nanoparticle colloid. The anti-tumor effect of the produced Ag/TiO₂ core-shell NPs, in D.W. and PBS as solvents, was investigated against the AMJ13 cell line both with and without using the laser at 1060 nm as the ablation source for the PTT in vitro. Also, histopathological changes following a single injection of the Ag/TiO₂ in mice were evaluated. Results: In vitro results showed that the Ag/TiO₂ in PBS had anti-breast cancer cell line compared with REF normal cell line, while Ag/TiO₂ that was prepared in D.W. was biocompatible. Therefore, the anti-tumor potential impact of Ag/TiO₂ on PBS was selected to be tested as a photothermal agent in vitro. Interestingly, the results of the in vivo study showed Ag/TiO₂ no significant histopathological changes on mouse tissue. Moreover, the PTT study demonstrated that the best working laser parameters were 5W within 5 minutes, which achieved more than 57% inhibition percentage of tumor cell growth compared to the non-irradiated cancer cells. Conclusion: Ag/TiO₂ core-shell nanoparticle is concluded to be a promising PTT agent in the NIR-II window against the AMJ13 breast cancer cell line, and it was safe on normal tissue in vivo.