Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Immunostimulatory Effect of Biogenic Selenium Nanoparticles on the 4T1 Breast Cancer Model: an In Vivo Study

Biological Trace Element Research volume 149, pages 22–28 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Selenium salts as well as elemental selenium nanoparticles are attracting the attention of researchers due to their excellent biological properties. The aim of the present work was to study immunomodulation by applying elemental Se NPs to stimulate the immune response of mice bearing 4 T1 breast cancer tumors. Six- to 8-week-old female inbred BALB/c mice were divided into two groups of test and control, each containing 15 mice. Every day, for 2 weeks prior to tumor induction, selenium nanoparticles were orally administered to the mice at a dose of 100 μg/day. Then, 1 × 106 cells from a 4 T1 cell line were injected subcutaneously to each mouse. Oral nanoparticle administration was continued daily for 3 weeks after tumor induction. Different immunological parameters were then evaluated including cytokine level, delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) response as well as tumor growth and the survival rates in all treated or nontreated animals. The production of Th1 cytokines, such as IFN-γ and IL-12, in spleen cell culture was increased in the test mice-administered selenium nanoparticles. The DTH response of test mice also showed a significant increase when compared to the control mice. The survival rate was notably higher for the selenium nanoparticle-treated mice compared to the control mice. Our results suggest that selenium nanoparticle administration can result in considerable induction of the Th1 platform of immune response through the elevation of IFN-γ and IL-12 and may be a cause for better prognosis in mice with tumors.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

References

  1. Tapiero H, Townsend DM, Tew KD (2003) The antioxidant role of selenium and seleno-compounds. Biomed Pharmacother 57:134–144

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Zeng H, Combs GF Jr (2008) Selenium as an anticancer nutrient: rolls in cell proliferation and tumor cell invasion. J Nutr Biochem 19:1–7

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Beck MA, Levander OA, Handy J (2003) Selenium deficiency and viral infection. J Nutr 133:1463–1467

    Google Scholar 

  4. Schrauzer GN (2000) Anticarcinognic effects of selenium. CMLS, Cell Molec Life Sci 57:1864–1873

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Schrauzer GN (2009) Selenium and selenium-antagonistic elements in nutritional cancer prevention. Crit Rev Biotechnol 29:10–17

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Schrauzer GN, White CJ, Schneider CJ (1977) Cancer mortality correlation studies. III. Associations with dietary selenium intakes. Bioinorg Chem 7:23–34

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ip C (1985) Selenium inhibition of chemical carcinogenesis. Fed Proc 44:2573–2578

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Milner JA (1985) Effect of selenium on virally induced and transplantable tumor models. Fed Proc 44:2568–2572

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Schrauzer GN (2006) Interactive effects of selenium and chromium on mammary tumor development and growth in MMTV-infected female mice and their relevance to human cancer. Biol Trace Elem Res 109:281–292

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Schrauzer GN (2008) Interactive effects of selenium and cadmium on mammary tumor development and growth in MMTV-infected female mice. A model study on the roles of cadmium and selenium in human breast cancer. Biol Trace Elem Res 123:27–34

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kryukov GV, Castellano S, Novoselov SV, Lobanov AV, Zehtab O, Guigo R, Gladyshev VN (2003) Characterization of mammalian selenoproteomes. Science 300:1439–1443

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Bainbridge DR (1976) Use of (75Se) L-selenomethionine as a label for lymphoid cells. Immunology 30:135–144

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kiremidjian-Schumacher L, Stotzky G (1987) Selenium and immune responses. Environ Res 42(2):277–303

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Whanger P, Vendeland S, Park YC, Xia YM (1996) Metabolism of subtoxic levels of selenium in animals and humans. Ann Clin Lab Sci 26:99–113

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Takahashi T (1982) Comparative x-ray–photoemission study of monoclinic, trigonal, and amorphous selenium. Phys Rev B 26:5963

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Takahashi T, Yagi S, Sagawa T, Nagata K, Miyamoto Y (1985) X-ray photoemission study of orthorhombic selenium; a new allotrope of crystalline selenium. J Phys Soc Jpn 54:1018–1022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Cherin P, Unger P (2002) The crystal structure of trigonal selenium. Inorg Chem 6:1589

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Yang LB, Shen YH, Xie AJ, Liang JJ, Zhang BC (2008) Synthesis of Se nanoparticles by using TSA ion and its photocatalytic application for decolorization of cango red under UV irradiation. Mater Res Bull 43:572–582

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Zhang J, Wang X, Xu T (2007) Elemental selenium at nano size (Nano-Se) as a potential chemopreventive agent with reduced risk of selenium toxicity: comparison with se-methylselenocysteine in mice. Toxicol Sci 101:22–31

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Zhang JS, Gao XY, Zhang LD, Bao YP (2001) Biological effect of a nano red elemental selenium. Biofactors 15:27–38

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Tran PA, Sarin L, Hurt RH, Webster TJ (2010) Titanium surfaces with adherent selenium nanoclusters as a novel anticancer orthopedic material. J Biomed Mater Res A 1593:1417–1428

    Google Scholar 

  22. Shakibaie M, Forootanfar H, Mollazadeh-Moghaddam K, Bagherzadeh Z, Nafissi-Varcheh N, Shahverdi AR, Faramarzi MA (2010) Green synthesis of gold nanoparticles by the marine microalga Tetraselmis suecica. Biotechnol Appl Biochem 57:71–75

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Attia M, Weiss DW (1996) Immunology of spontaneous mammary carcinomas in mice. V. Acquired tumour resistance and enhancement in strain mice infected with mammary tumor virus. Cancer Res 26:1787–1792

    Google Scholar 

  24. Jin H, Li Y, Ma Z, Zhang F, Xie Q, Gu D, Wang B (2004) Effect of chemical adjuvants on DNA vaccination. Vaccine 22:2925–2935

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Mcpherson K, Steel CM, Dixon JM (2003) Breast cancer epidemiology, risk factors and genetics. Br Med J 321:624–628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Li Y, Tang JH, Huang XE, Li CG (2011) Clinical comparison on the safety and efficacy of fluorouracil/pirarubicin/cyclophosphamide (FPC) with fluorouracil/epirubicin/cyclophosphamide (FEC) as postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 12:1795–1798

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Kojouri GA, Jahanabadi S, Shakibaie M, Ahadi AM, Shahverdi AR (2011) Effect of selenium supplementation with sodium selenite and selenium nanoparticles on iron homeostasis and transferrin gene expression in sheep: a preliminary study. Res Vet Sci Online published.

  28. Angiolillo AL, Sgadari C, Taub DD, Liao F, Farber JM, Maheshwari S (1995) Human interferon-inducible protein 10 is a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis in vivo. J Exp Med 182:155–162

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Trinchieri G (1994) Interleukin-12, a cytokine produced by antigen-presenting cells with immunoregulatory functions in the generation of T-helper cells type 1 and cytotoxic lymphocytes. Blood 84:4008–4027

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Fujiwara D, Inoue S, Wakabayashi H (2004) The anti-allergic effects of lactic acid bacteria are strain dependent and mediated by effects on both Th1/Th2 cytokine expression and balance. Int Arch Allergy Immunol 135:205–215

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Cantrell DA, Smith KA (2004) The interleukin-2 T-cell system: a new cell growth model. Science 224:1312–1316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Smith KA (1988) Interleukin-2: inception, impact, and implications. Science 240:1169–1176

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Turcotte S, Rosenberg SA (2011) Immunotherapy for metastatic solid cancers. Adv Surg 45:341–360

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Mitchell RS, Kumar V, Abbas AK, Fausto N (2007) Robbins basic pathology, 8th edn. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Biotechnology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (Tehran, Iran).There is no conflict of interest in this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biotechnology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Hossein Yazdi, Bardia Varastehmoradi, Mohammad Ali Faramarzi & Ahmad Reza Shahverdi

  2. Department of Virology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran

    Mehdi Mahdavi

Authors
  1. Mohammad Hossein Yazdi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mehdi Mahdavi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bardia Varastehmoradi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mohammad Ali Faramarzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ahmad Reza Shahverdi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmad Reza Shahverdi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yazdi, M.H., Mahdavi, M., Varastehmoradi, B. et al. The Immunostimulatory Effect of Biogenic Selenium Nanoparticles on the 4T1 Breast Cancer Model: an In Vivo Study. Biol Trace Elem Res 149, 22–28 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-012-9402-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-012-9402-0

Keywords

search

Navigation