The Impact of Gold Nanoparticles Conjugated with Albumin on Prostate and Breast Cancer Cell Lines: Insights into Cytotoxicity, Cellular Uptake, Migration, and Adhesion Potential

Abstract Breast and prostate cancers are prevalent in women and men, respectively. The process of metastasis plays a crucial role in cancer advancement. Herein, two distinct forms of gold nanoparticles (GNP) were prepared and modified with bovine serum albumin (BSA) to create gold nanorods-BSA (GNR-BSA) and gold nanospheres-BSA (GNS-BSA). Various aspects of biological interactions of these nanoparticles with two prostate cancer cell lines (DU-145 and PC-3) and a breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) have been investigated. The cell viability of DU-145 and PC-3 ranged from 17% to 95% across concentrations of 0.55 to 34.5 µg/mL, and for MDA-MB-231 ranged from 17% to 85%. GNS-BSA exhibited no significant cytotoxicity against the cancer cell lines. Regarding cellular uptake, GNR-BSA demonstrated uptake rates of 10%, 14%, and 5% for DU-145, PC-3, and MDA-MB-231 cell lines, respectively, while GNS-BSA showed uptake of less than 0.4% for all the cell lines investigated. Notably, GNR-BSA significantly impeded the cellular migration of DU-145 and PC-3 cells over 48 hr and MDA-MB-231 cells over 24 hr compared to controls. GNS-BSA inhibited cell migration over 48 hours for DU-145 and over 24 hours for PC-3 and MDA-MB-231. Adhesion assay showed a moderate reduction of PC-3 adhesion ability (~ 20%) by GNS-BSA, while a minimum effect was observed on DU-145 (~5%). GNR-BSA have minimally affected the adhesion ability of both PC-3 (~8%), and DU-145 (~13%) and no adhesion ability reduction was observed on MDA-MB-231 by both GNP-BSA. This study suggests that GNP-BSA could be promising potential agents for combating cancer and inhibiting cellular invasion, and they could serve as promising platforms for drug delivery.