Stimulation of apoptotic pathways in liver cancer cells: An alternative perspective on the biocompatibility and the utility of biomedical glasses

Abstract

A host of research opportunities with innumerable clinical applications are open to biomedical glasses if one considers their potential as therapeutic inorganic ion delivery systems. Generally, applications have been limited to repair and regeneration of hard tissues while compositions are largely constrained to the original bioactive glass developed in the 1960s. However, in oncology applications the therapeutic paradigm shifts from repair to targeted destruction. With this in mind, the composition-structure-property-function relationships of vanadium-containing zinc-silicate glasses (0.51SiO2-0.29Na2O-(0.20-X)ZnO-XV2O5, 0 ≤ X ≤ 0.09) were characterized in order to determine their potential as therapeutic inorganic ion delivery systems. Increased V2O5mole fraction resulted in a linear decrease in density and glass transition temperature (Tg).(29)Si MAS NMR peak maxima shifted upfield while(51)V MAS NMR peak maxima were independent of V2O5content and overlapped well with the spectra NaVO3 Increased V2O5mole fraction caused ion release to increase. When human liver cancer cells, HepG2, were exposed to these ions they demonstrated a concentration-dependent cytotoxic response, mediated by apoptosis. This work demonstrates that the zinc-silicate system studied herein is capable of delivering therapeutic inorganic ions at concentrations that induce apoptotic cell death and provide a simple means to control therapeutic inorganic ion delivery.

The effect of vanadium ferrite doping on the bioactivity of mesoporous bioactive glass-ceramics

“…It should be noted that other studies also observed that the high percentage of vanadium and iron in the composition led to lower cell growth. 18,71 The VF0505 and VF0510 samples show a relative decrease in cell viability at 3 days and a relative increase at 7 days. This is probably due to the vanadium and iron contents compared to the control sample (VF00), which may cause relative cytotoxicity (the initial effect of V and Fe) at 3 days.…”

The two faces of metal ions: From implants rejection to tissue repair/regeneration

“…The toxicity of some metal ions at low concentrations has been explored for application in Oncology. A bioglass incorporating vanadium was engineered to release this metal ion in a controlled fashion, to induce apoptosis of cancer cells [166]. Additionally, metal corrosion processes may be tuned to control tumor growth or infection, using systems such as galvanically coupled MgeTi particles [167].…”

Calcium silicate/bortezomib combinatory therapy for multiple myeloma

“…Studies have shown that some inorganic metal ions (such as vanadium and zinc ions) can effectively arrest the cell cycle at the G2/M phase, and their effect can be further enhanced by silicate ions. [27][28][29] Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the silicate ions can enhance the biological functions of organic small-molecule drugs such as BOR in arresting the cell cycle of tumor cells at the G2/M phase. This discovery may further broaden the scope of the application of Si ion therapy.…”