Toxic effect of C60 fullerene-doxorubicin complex towards tumor and normal cells in vitro

Creation of new nanostructures possessing high antitumor activity is an important problem of modern biotechnology. Aim. To evaluate cytotoxicity of created complex of pristine C 60 fullerene with the anthracycline antibiotic doxorubicin (Dox), as well as of free C 60 fullerene and Dox, towards different cell types -tumor, normal immunocompetent and hepatocytes. Methods. Measurement of size distribution for particles in C 60 + Dox mixture was performed by a dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique. Toxic effect of C 60 + Dox complex in vitro towards tumor and normal cells was studied using the MTT assay. Results. DLS experiment demonstrated that the main fraction of the particles in C 60 + Dox mixture had a diameter in the range of about 132 nm. The toxic effect of C 60 + Dox complex towards normal (lymphocytes, macrophages, hepatocytes) and tumor (Ehrlich ascites carcinoma, leukemia L1210, Lewis lung carcinoma) cells was decreased by ~10-16 % and ~7-9 %, accordingly, compared with the same effect of free Dox. Conclusions. The created C 60 + Dox composite may be considered as a new pharmacological agent that kills effectively tumor cells in vitro and simultaneously prevents a toxic effect of the free form of Dox on normal cells.