Boise State University

Madhusudan R Kongara

Alex Punnoose

Denise Wingett

Kevin Feris

Hua Wang

Here we disclose the response of normal human cells to ZnO nanoparticles under different signaling environments and compare it to the response of cancerous cells. ZnO nanoparticles exhibit a strong preferential ability to kill cancerous T cells (&#x2dc;28-35X) compared to normal cells. Interestingly, the activation state of the cell contributes toward nanoparticle toxicity as resting T cells display a relative resistance while cells stimulated through the T cell receptor and CD28 costimulatory pathway show greater toxicity in direct relation to the level of activation. The novel findings of cell selective toxicity towards potential disease causing cells indicate a potential utility of ZnO nanoparticle in the treatment of cancer and/or autoimmunity.

Preferential killing of cancer cells and activated human T cells using ZnO nanoparticles

Multifunctional 'smart' nanostructures are disclosed that include fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-encapsulated SiOcore-shell particles with a nanoscale ZnO finishing layer, wherein an outer ZnO layer is formed on the SiO-FITC core. These &#x2dc;200 nm sized particles showed promise toward cell imaging and cellular uptake studies using the bacteriumand Jurkat cancer cells, respectively. The FITC encapsulated ZnO particles demonstrated excellent selectivity in preferentially killing Jurkat cancer cells with minimal toxicity to normal primary immune cells (18% and 75% viability remaining, respectively, after exposure to 60 &#x3bc;g/mL) and inhibited the growth of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria at concentrations &#x2267;250-500 &#x3bc;g/mL (forand, respectively). These results indicate that the FITC encapsulated multifunctional particles with nanoscale ZnO surface layer can be used as smart nanostructures for particle tracking, cell imaging, antibacterial treatments and cancer therapy.

Growing community of inventors

Boise, ID, United States of America

Madhusudan R Kongara