Effect of mannan-reduced gold nanoparticles on prostate cancer cells

Prostate cancer is a severe cancer type which kills a large number of males every year. The new nanotechnological therapeutic tools based on the targeting of the over-expressed receptors have showed advances to decrease the side effects on healthy cells. In this thesis, gold nanoparticles were synthesized using mannan (M-AuNPs), which is a polymer of mannose, attaches the mannose 6-phosphate receptor (M6PR) highly expressed in prostate cancer. AuNPs were used as anticancer drug delivery vehicle and their efficiency was compared with other gold nanoparticles reduced with starch and citrate on healthy PNT1A and cancerous DU145 cells. The results showed that the synthesized AuNPs did not influence the viability of the both cell lines. Dox-loaded AuNPs displayed a high rate of toxicity on DU145 cancer cells by inducing cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase. As a conclusion, M-AuNPs can be a promising tool for prostate cancer by combining with photothermal therapy.