Enhanced antitumor activity of carbendazim on HeLa cervical cancer cells by aptamer mediated controlled release

Abstract

with human cervical adenocarcinoma (HeLa) cultured cells. Nucleolin (AS1411) binding aptamers were used to entrap carbendazim molecules inside nanopores of MCM-41 type silica nanoparticles to obtain a stimuli-dependent release system. The effect of carbendazim loaded aptamer silica complex was tested and compared to free carbendazim treatment on HeLa cells, demonstrating 3.3 fold increase of toxicity on targeted cells with our delivery system. In addition, cytotoxicity of the complex was determined to be mostly due to increased apoptosis and to a less extend necrosis related pathways.