Silver nanoparticles modulate ABC transporter activity and enhance chemotherapy in multidrug resistant cancer

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nano.2015.10.015
• Publication Date: 2015-12-04T05:39:27Z
• Authors: Dávid Kovács; Krisztina Szőke; Nóra Igaz; Gabriella Spengler; József Molnár; Tímea Tóth; Dániel Madarász; Zsolt Rázga; Zoltán Kónya; Imre M. Boros; Mónika Kiricsi
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; tumorok; Silver; QH3011 Biochemistry / biokémia; QH3015 Molecular biology / molekuláris biológia; Metal Nanoparticles; Antineoplastic Agents; Drug Synergism; QR Microbiology / mikrobiológia; onkológia; Drug Resistance, Multiple; Anti-Bacterial Agents; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Cell Line, Tumor; Neoplasms; Humans; ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; RC0254 Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology (including Cancer) / daganatok; QR180 Immunology / immunológia

The emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) cancer phenotypes dramatically attenuates the efficiency of antineoplastic drug treatments often leading to the failure of chemotherapy. Therefore there is an urgent need to engineer new therapeutically useful agents and propose innovative approaches able to defeat resistant cancer cells. Although the remarkable anti-cancer features of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have already been delineated their impact on MDR cancer has never been investigated. Herein, we report that AgNPs have notable anti-proliferative effect and induce apoptosis mediated cell death both in drug sensitive and in MDR cancer cells. Furthermore we show evidence that AgNPs exert an inhibitory action on the efflux activity of MDR cancer cells which feature could be exploited to enhance drug accumulation. We verified synergistic interactions of AgNPs with six different antineoplastic agents on drug resistant cells which emphasizes the excellent potential of AgNPs as combinational partners in the chemotherapy of MDR cancer.The treatment of cancer often fails due to the development of multidrug resistant (MDR) cancer cells. Hence, novel approaches are being investigated to combat drug resistant cancer cells. One particular method studied here uses silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The authors showed that AgNPs had anti-proliferative effect and ?exerted an inhibitory action on ABC transporter. The findings could suggest the possible use of AgNPs in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents in the clinical setting.