Promising potency of retinoic acid-poly(ethylene glycol)-thiol gold nanoparticle conjugates for cervical cancer treatment.

We investigated the effect of synthesized retinoic acid-poly(ethylene glycol)-thiol gold nanoparticle conjugates on cervical carcinoma cells. Cervical cancer is the major cause of deaths for the women of reproductive age in the developing countries. Compared to retinoic acid, the nanoparticle conjugates exhibited better activity against cervical carcinoma. Selective delivery of gold nanoparticle conjugates to estrogen receptor positive cervical cancer cells with 6-fold enhanced drug potency was observed. Transfer of gold nanoparticles was found to be dominated by estrogen ligand and receptor. It appeared that retinoic acid nanoparticle conjugates were selectively taken and retained by the estrogen receptor alpha present in the plasma membrane. Thus IC50 values for RA-PEG-SH were significantly improvedon nanoparticle ligation. Cells on treatment with RA-PEG-SH-AuNPsshowed growth inhibition at 12 and 24 h after incubation. The IC50 for RA in RA-PEG-SH-AuNPs after 12 and 24 h were 3 and 1 μM, respectively. Thus, the use of RA nanoparticle conjugates can be a better strategy for cervical carcinoma treatment.