Engineering functionalized multi-phased silicon/silicon oxide nano-biomaterials to passivate the aggressive proliferation of cancer

Abstract

Currently, the use of nano silicon in cancer therapy is limited as drug delivery vehicles and markers in imaging, not as manipulative/controlling agents. This is due to limited properties that native states of nano silicon and silicon oxides offers. We introduce nano-functionalized multi-phased silicon/silicon oxide biomaterials synthesized via ultrashort pulsed laser synthesis, with tunable properties that possess inherent cancer controlling properties that can passivate the progression of cancer. This nanostructured biomaterial is composed of individual functionalized nanoparticles made of a homogenous hybrid of multiple phases of silicon and silicon oxide in increasing concentration outwards from the core. The chemical properties of the proposed nanostructure such as number of phases, composition of phases and crystal orientation of each functionalized nanoparticle in the three dimensional nanostructure is defined based on precisely tuned ultrashort pulsed laser-material interaction mechanisms. The amorphous rich phased biomaterial shows a 30 fold (95%) reduction in number of cancer cells compared to bulk silicon in 48 hours. Further, the size of the cancer cells reduces by 76% from 24 to 48 hours. This method exposes untapped properties of combination of multiple phases of silicon oxides and its applications in cancer therapy.

Noble Hybrid Nanostructures as Efficient Anti-Proliferative Platforms for Human Breast Cancer Cell

“…The nanostructured platforms that were coated with high concentrations of both Au and Au–Pd exhibited similar cell growth after 24 h of cell–material interaction. However, a marked difference was seen in cell growth between platforms treated with Au and Au–Pd after 48 h. The platforms coated with gold prevented cell growth to a greater extent at 48 h, which may be attributed to the difference in the size (Au, 8.3 nm; Au–Pd, 2.6 nm) and the speed and mechanism of cell internalization of Au and Au–Pd nanoparticles . It could also suggest the lower degree of toxicity of Pd as opposed to Au nanoparticles.…”

“…To that end, our laboratory started to explore other potential applications of Si by modifying Si platforms for targeted cell behaviors, for example, cell proliferation, cell isolation, and cell channeling. We have recently developed multiphased Si/Si oxide nanobiomaterials that deactivate the inherent proliferative nature of silicon and showed that they passivate the progress of cervical cancer cells (HeLa) . Our current efforts are moving toward the synthesis of novel hybrid assemblies for performance improvement.…”

Emerging tumor spheroids technologies for 3D in vitro cancer modeling

“…Several literatures depict the genomic stability of multi-cellular spheroids, indicating the preservation of genomic profile of human malignant cells such as glioma in spheroid but lacks in monolayer (De Witt Hamer, Leenstra, Van Noorden, & Zwinderman, 2009). Follow up strategies involve the employment of nanosilicon (Premnath, Tan, & Venkatakrishnan, 2015), which is linked to nanoparticles or other nanostructures such as biosensors for cancer culture. The critical application of this is in "matrisome" research, i.e.…”

Functionalized Stress Component onto Bio-template as a Pathway of Cytocompatibility

“…has recently performed an in-depth study of programing cancer cells through phase-functionalized silicon-based biomaterials 10 . It revealed that changing the surface chemistry of the silicon substrate by formation of oxides contributes to the control of directional migration, cytoskeleton shape, and cell population 10 11 12 . This finding has provided valuable insight into cellular responses to changes of material-phase stimuli.…”