Toxicological effects of inorganic nanoparticles on human lung cancer A549 cells

Many researches have shown that anionic clays can be used as delivery carriers for drug or gene molecules due to their efficient cellular uptake in vitro, and enhanced permeability and retention effect in vivo. It is, therefore, highly required to establish a guideline on their potential toxicity for practical applications. The toxicity of anionic clay, layered metal hydroxide nanoparticle, was evaluated in two human lung epithelial cells, carcinoma A549 cells and normal L-132 cells, and compared with that in other human cancer cell lines such as cervical adenocarcinoma cells (HeLa) and osteosarcoma cells (HOS). The present nanoparticles showed little cytotoxic effects on the proliferation and viability of four cell lines tested at the concentrations used (<250 μg/ml) within 48 h. However, exposing cancer cells to high concentrations (250–500 μg/ml) for 72 h resulted in an inflammatory response with oxidative stress and membrane damage, which varied with the cell type (A549 > HOS > HeLa). On the other hand, the toxicity mechanism seems to be different from that of other inorganic nanoparticles frequently studied for biological and medicinal applications such as iron oxide, silica, and single walled carbon nanotubes. Iron oxide caused cell death associated with membrane damage, while single walled carbon nanotube induced oxidative stress followed by apoptosis. Silica triggered an inflammation response without causing considerable cell death for both cancer cells and normal cells, whereas layered metal hydroxide nanoparticle did not show any cytotoxic effects on normal L-132 cells in terms of inflammation response, oxidative stress, and membrane damage at the concentration of less than 250 μg/ml. It is , therefore, highly expected that the present nanoparticle can be used as a efficient vehicle for drug delivery and cancer cell targeting as well.