The Impact of Gold Nanoparticles with Low Energy Irradiation Treatment on Temperature Induction and Cell Viability of Breast Cancer Cell

The photothermal therapy (PTT) has attracted the cancer treatment because it is non-invasive and relatively safe technique. The gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been a great source of interest due to its novel characteristics which make them suitable for the promising applications such as the photothermal therapy, drug delivery, nanomedicine, photonics, biochemical sensors and imaging. AuNPs were prepared via a citrate reduction method. The characterization techniques such as UV-vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to characterize AuNPs. The spherical shape of the AuNPs with the size of 35 ± 5 nm was identified under TEM. The Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) human breast cancer cells were used as a model cell for cell viability investigation after treatment. The AuNPs at concentrations 0.1 µg/ml and 0.5 µg/ml were applied into MCF-7 cells and then the cells were exposed to a light emitting diode (LED). It found that MCF-7 cells treated with 0.1 µg/ml AuNPs and then exposed to a LED for 5 min had a reduction of cell viability when compared with the control or cells treated with the same condition without LED exposure. But, when cells were treated with a higher concentration of AuNPs and then LED irradiation, the cell viability was dropped when compared with cells treated with AuNPs without LED irradiation. It is important to note here that when MCF-7 cells were treated with AuNPs alone without irradiation, the cell viability was slightly enhanced when compared with non-treated cells. Nevertheless, the future studies could be made on the treatment of the AuNPs with LED for extended time period which could possibly make them an effective agent to destroy cancer cell.