Radioactive gold nanocluster (198-AuNCs) showed inhibitory effects on cancer cells lines

Figures & data

Table 1. Properties of the gold radioisotope (${}_{79}{}^{198}Au$).

Half-life	γ(gamma)-ray energy (MeV) and Abundance	Max. β (beta) particles energy (MeV)	Decay
2.7 d	0.412 (95.6 %), 0.068 (0.8 %) and 1.09 (0.16 %)	0.960 (99 %) (Maximum)	Electron capture and low-energy electrons emission^a

^a Low-energy electron consists mainly of Auger and Coster–Kronig electrons.

Figure 1. Gamma spectrometry using an HPGe showing the specific gamma (412 KeV) from the ¹⁹⁸Au.

Figure 2. (A) Visual comparison between the irradiated (198Au25(Capt)18 gold nanoclusters) and non-irradiated (Au25(Capt)18 gold nanoclusters), showing no visual change. (B) photoluminescence analysis showing that irradiated sample have changed the behaviour.

Figure 3. MTT assay of the ¹⁹⁸Au25(Capt)18 in 3 different cancer cell lines. In all the cases, statical difference was observed between control and the doses used to perform the test with a T test of 4.56E-05 for 2 Gy and 7.12E-04 for 4 Gy.

Figure 4. Effect of Au nanoclusters (Au25(Capt)18) on MRP1 efflux activity. Doxorubicin accumulation assay was used to measure MRP1 efflux activity. HEK293T cells transiently transfected with MRP1-GFP (green) were pre-treated with 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1% Au nanoclusters or 50 μM of MK571 (known MRP1 inhibitor), before incubation with doxorubicin (red) at 37 °C for 1 h. Images were acquired using confocal microscopy. GFP and doxorubicin were excited at 488 nm, and emission detected at 475/42 and 605/64 nm, respectively.