Hyperthermia of MCF-7 under Near Infrared Radiation in the Presence of PEGylated Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer remains a major healthcare challenge due to its high incidence worldwide. Current treatment methods involve invasive surgical procedures, underscoring the urgent need for more effective and less invasive therapies. One promising approach explored in this study is hyperthermia-based treatment of cancer cells using NIR radiation in the presence of PEGylated graphene oxide. This method aims to leverage the photothermal properties of nanoparticles to selectively ablate cancer cells, offering a potential alternative to other therapeutic strategies. METHODS: We investigated graphene oxide coated with linear (LP-GO) or branched (BP-GO) polyethylene glycol at concentrations of 5, 25, and 50 μg/mL in combination with NIR radiation. The irradiation was performed twice for 20 minutes. Cell viability, apoptosis, and the number of MCF-7 cells were assessed at 24 and 48 hours post-irradiation using flow cytometry. RESULTS: The research shows that only LP-GO increases the temperature in a dose-dependent manner. The maximum temperature (45.9°C) was recorded at a concentration of 50 μg/mL after the second irradiation. Additionally, LP-GO is sorbed by MCF-7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, when LP-GO was used at concentrations of 25 and 50 μg/mL in combination with NIR irradiation, the maximum antitumor effect was observed after 48 hours, with a general apoptosis rate of 30%. DISCUSSION: We observed that after NIR irradiation of MCF-7 cells, early apoptosis was induced. According to the literature, this effect may be associated with increased levels of pro-apoptotic proteins and pro-inflammatory cytokines. In addition, apoptosis is known to be triggered after photothermal/photodynamic therapy by increasing the amount of ROS, caspase 8/9 activation, as well as caspase 3/7 and cytochrome c protein. At the same time, we did not observe a great increase in apoptosis, which may be due to the fact that hyperthermia is able to increase the expression of heat shock genes, in particular HSP70, HSP90, and HSP27, HSPВ1, which protect the cell from the negative influence of IR rays. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that LP-GO effectively induces hyperthermia in MCF-7 cells in a concentration- dependent manner, resulting in an increased percentage of apoptotic cells. Therefore, the combination of LP-GO with NIR irradiation shows promise as a hyperthermia-based therapeutic approach for breast cancer treatment.