Abstract:
In this article, a novel method of simultaneous carborane- and gadolinium-containing
compounds as efficient agents for neutron capture therapy (NCT) delivery via magnetic nanocarriers
is presented. The presence of both Gd and B increases the efficiency of NCT and using nanocarriers
enhances selectivity. These factors make NCT not only efficient, but also safe. Superparamagnetic
Fe3O4 nanoparticles were treated with silane and then the polyelectrolytic layer was formed for further immobilization of NCT agents. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction
(XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), ultraviolet–visible (UV-Vis) and Mössbauer spectroscopies,
dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), vibrating-sample magnetometry
(VSM) were applied for the characterization of the chemical and element composition, structure, morphology and magnetic properties of nanocarriers. The cytotoxicity effect was evaluated on different
cell lines: BxPC-3, PC-3 MCF-7, HepG2 and L929, human skin fibroblasts as normal cells. average
size of nanoparticles is 110 nm; magnetization at 1T and coercivity is 43.1 emu/g and 8.1, respectively;
the amount of B is 0.077 mg/g and the amount of Gd is 0.632 mg/g. Successful immobilization of
NCT agents, their low cytotoxicity against normal cells and selective cytotoxicity against cancer cells
as well as the superparamagnetic properties of nanocarriers were confirmed by analyses above.
