Issue 24, 2022

Cytotoxic sub-nanometer aqueous platinum clusters as potential antitumoral agents

Abstract

Ligand-free sub-nanometer metal clusters (MCs) of Pt, Ir, Rh, Au and Cu, are prepared here in neat water and used as extremely active (nM) antitumoral agents for HeLa and A2870 cells. The preparation just consists of adding the biocompatible polymer ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) to an aqueous solution of the corresponding metal salt, to give liters of a MC solution after filtration of the polymer. Since the MC solution is composed of just neat metal atoms and water, the intrinsic antitumoral activity of the different sub-nanometer metal clusters can now fairly be evaluated. Pt clusters show an IC50 of 0.48 μM for HeLa and A2870 cancer cells, 23 times higher than that of cisplatin and 1000 times higher than that of Pt NPs, and this extremely high cytotoxicity also occurs for cisplatin-resistant (A2870 cis) cells, with a resistance factor of 1.4 (IC50 = 0.68 μM). Rh and Ir clusters showed an IC50 ∼ 1 μM. Combined experimental and computational studies support an enhanced internalization and cytotoxic activation.

Graphical abstract: Cytotoxic sub-nanometer aqueous platinum clusters as potential antitumoral agents

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Aug 2022
Accepted
09 Oct 2022
First published
10 Oct 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2022,4, 5281-5289

Cytotoxic sub-nanometer aqueous platinum clusters as potential antitumoral agents

R. Greco, G. García-Lainez, J. Oliver-Meseguer, C. Marini, I. Domínguez, M. López-Haro, J. C. Hernández-Garrido, J. P. Cerón-Carrasco, I. Andreu and A. Leyva-Pérez, Nanoscale Adv., 2022, 4, 5281 DOI: 10.1039/D2NA00550F

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