ϵ‐Polylysine‐Capped Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles as Carrier of the C9h Peptide to Induce Apoptosis in Cancer Cells

E-ISSN： 1521-3765|24|8|1890-1897

ISSN： 0947-6539

Source： CHEMISTRY - A EUROPEAN JOURNAL, Vol.24, Iss.8, 2018-02, pp. : 1890-1897

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Abstract

AbstractApoptotic signaling pathways are altered in numerous pathologies such as cancer. In this scenario, caspase‐9/PP2Acα interaction constitutes a key target with pharmacological interest to re‐establish apoptosis in tumor cells. Very recently, a short peptide (C9h) known to disrupt caspase‐9/PP2Acα interaction with subsequent apoptosis induction was described. Here, we prepared two sets of mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with safranin O (S2) or with C9h peptide (S4) and functionalized with ϵ‐polylysine as capping unit. Aqueous suspensions of both nanoparticles showed negligible cargo release whereas in the presence of pronase, a marked delivery of safranin O or C9h was observed. Confocal microscopy studies carried out with HeLa cells indicated that both materials were internalized and were able to release their entrapped cargos. Besides, a marked decrease in HeLa cell viability (ca. 50 %) was observed when treated with C9h‐loaded S4 nanoparticles. Moreover, S4 provides peptide protection from degradation additionally allowing for a dose reduction to observe an apoptotic effect when compared with C9h alone or in combination with a cell‐penetrating peptide (i.e., Mut3DPT‐C9h). Flow cytometry studies, by means of Annexin V‐FITC staining, showed the activation of apoptotic pathways in HeLa as a consequence of S4 internalization, release of C9h peptide and disruption of caspase‐9/PP2Acα interaction.