In vitro study on the individual and synergistic cytotoxicity of adriamycin and selenium nanoparticles against Bel7402 cells with a quartz crystal microbalance

Selenium nanoparticles (Se NPs) were prepared based on the reduction of selenious acid (H2SeO3), by employing sodium alginate (SA) as a template. The real-time monitoring of the drug-inducing apoptosis process of human hepatic cancer cells Bel7402 was performed with the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurement. The anti-tumor effect of adriamycin (ADM) used in combination with Se NPs was investigated. It is found that both drugs were able to inhibit cell proliferation in a dose-dependent way and the combined treatment with ADM and Se NPs was more effective in inhibiting cell growth than each of the two drugs alone. The cytotoxic effects of drug combination were evaluated with the modified Bürgi formula (Jin equation) based the Δf0 responses. The grades gradually changed from apparent synergism to simple addition with the drug-treatment time increasing but the drug combination with lower concentrations still exhibited synergism after 24 h, suggesting a potential application in cancer therapy.