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Alterations on HeLa cell actin filaments induced by PEGylated gold nanorod-based plasmonic photothermal therapy

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Abstract

The actin cytoskeleton plays a crucial role in dynamic processes such as cell adhesion and intracellular movement. For cancer cells, both mechanisms are involved in metastasis. Plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPT) is postulated to lessen undesirable damage of both the surrounding healthy cells and tissue. We have examined the actin filaments of HeLa cells treated in vitro with PEGylated gold nanorod (PEGGNR)-based PPT. Our results show that 5 min of PEGGNR-PPT induces irreversible damages on the cytoskeleton network, which initiate with the accumulation of F-actin stress fibers and evolve into cell shrinkage and apoptosis. The PPT mediated by PEGGNRs results in 60.5% of death cells by apoptosis, in which F-actin distribution is significantly accumulated in a reduced area (2.5 times higher than non-treated). Such results suggest that the PEGGNRs could be responsible for compromising the cytoskeleton integrity of HeLa cells while inducing apoptosis.

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Funding

This work was supported by SEP–CONACyT Mexico, Ciencia Basica Grant No. 1901010 (A1-S-28227).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física, Universidad de Sonora, Blvd. Luis Encinas Y Rosales S/N, P.O. Box 1626, C.P. 8300, Hermosillo, Sonora, México

    Karla Santacruz-Gomez

  2. Departamento de Investigación en Física, Universidad de Sonora, Blvd. Luis Encinas Y Rosales S/N, Hermosillo, México

    Rodrigo Melendrez, Ana L. Gallego-Hernandez & Martin Pedroza-Montero

  3. Departamento de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad de Sonora, Blvd. Luis Encinas Y Rosales S/N, Hermosillo, México

    Marlen Licerio-Ramírez

  4. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering & Institute of Engineering in Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA

    Ratnesh Lal

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  1. Karla Santacruz-Gomez
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  3. Marlen Licerio-Ramírez
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The initial work was conducted in Prof. Lal’s laboratory at the UCSD when Prof Santacruz was a visiting faculty at the UCSD.

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Correspondence to Karla Santacruz-Gomez.

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Santacruz-Gomez, K., Melendrez, R., Licerio-Ramírez, M. et al. Alterations on HeLa cell actin filaments induced by PEGylated gold nanorod-based plasmonic photothermal therapy. J Nanopart Res 24, 38 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-022-05425-3

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