Hyperthermic effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes stimulated with near infrared irradiation for anticancer therapy: in vitro studies

Burlaka A.P., Lukin S., Prylutska S., Remeniak O., Prylutskyy Yu., Shuba M., Maksimenko S., Ritter U., Scharff P.

It is proposed to use the novel paradigm of treating cancer with hyperthermic therapy using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) stimulated with near infrared (NIR) irradiation. Aim: To establish the capacity of MWCNT stimulated with NIR irradiation to destroy Erlich ascitic carcinoma (EAC) cells. Materials and Methods: EAC cells suspension was irradiated with NIR heating lamp with a wavelength of 0.78–1.40 mm and power density of 3.5 W/cm2 over 1.5 min in the presence of MWCNT (0.1 mg/ml). The changes in the temperature of suspension with the NIR exposure time was measured using the differential cooper-constantan thermocouple. The viability of EAC cells was evaluated by trypan blue staining. Results: The death of 95.2% of EAC cells in the presence of MWCNT was observed after 1.5 min of NIR light irradiation: thermal ablation temperature was ~50 °C. Conclusions: It was demonstrated that addition of MWCNT to EAC cell suspension results in the photo-ablative destruction of cells exposed to short time NIR irradiation.