Enhancing antitumor activity of silver nanoparticles by modification with cell-penetrating peptides

Abstract

Recently, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been used for cancer treatment. To achieve a successful anticancer activity, AgNP needs to be delivered sufficiently to the cells. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are small cationic peptides that have ability to transport various cargos across cell membranes. In this study, a strategy was developed for cancer treatment, where AgNP modified with CPPs displayed dramatically antitumor activity in MCF-7 cell lines. Peptides-modified AgNPs showed significant enhancement in killing tumor cells by increasing the uptake of AgNP into cell lines and could be a new class of nano-drug for cancer treatment.

Keywords:

• Anticancer
• cell-penetrating peptides
• cytotoxicity
• silver nanoparticles

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Funding information

The financial support from the “Drug Applied Research Center” and “Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology” of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences is greatly acknowledged.