Discipline: Nanoscience
Subcategory: Cancer Research
Session: 1
Room: McKinley
Deborah Ehie - Missouri State University
Co-Author(s): Dr. Kyoungtae Kim, Department of Biology, Missouri State University; Dr. Reza Sedaghat-Herati, Department of Chemistry, Missouri State University.
Antiviral vectors have been a principal delivery agent (among other agents such as metal nanoparticles) for current gene therapy techniques used for chemotherapy. Some of these kinds of gene delivery agent can be toxic to the cells due to the unpredictability and cytotoxicity of these vectors. Although these vectors can be useful, they can also be harmful to human cells. Many studies have shown the effectiveness of Chitin and Chitosan on drug delivery to these cancer cells. The problem at hand lies in the solubility of Chitin and Chitosan in the cells. A long term-goal of my study involves the use of two derivatives of Chitosan, triethylphosphonium butamide-chitosan (TEPB-CS or TEPB) and triethylammonium butamide-chitosan (TEAB-CS or TEAB) for gene therapy and drug delivery on cancer cells. This study presents the efficacy of these chemicals on cell proliferation of, cytotoxicity of, and gene transfection into HeLa cells. It was found that the chitosan derivatives display negligible effects on cell proliferation with their concentrations, ranging from 0 to 200 ug/mL, which further emphasizes their non-toxicity on cells. Additionally, the measurement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) with Dihydrorhodamine123 (DHR123) resulted in reduced oxidative stress in cell groups treated with these chemicals. This was followed by transfection of a GFP-fused plasmid into the HeLa cells in order to determine the efficiency of TEAB and TEPB as agents for gene therapy. Overall, these chitosan derivatives are considered safe agents for gene delivery experiments as will be discussed in my presentation.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): Missouri State University, Dr. Tayo Obafemi-Ajayi (via the LSAMP program), Dr. Kyoungtae Kim, Dr. Reza Sedaghat-Herati
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kyoungtae Kim, kkim@missouristate.edu
Role: I worked on the experimental process of the research