TY - JOUR A2 - Sonvico, Fabio AU - Huang, Yu-Chuen AU - Yang, Yuh-Cheng AU - Yang, Kai-Chien AU - Shieh, Hui-Ru AU - Wang, Tao-Yeuan AU - Hwu, Yeukuang AU - Chen, Yu-Jen PY - 2014 DA - 2014/03/25 TI - Pegylated Gold Nanoparticles Induce Apoptosis in Human Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells SP - 182353 VL - 2014 AB - Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have several potential biological applications as well as excellent biocompatibility. AuNPs with surface modification using polyethylene glycol (PEG-AuNPs) can facilitate easy conjugation with various biological molecules of interest. To examine the anticancer bioactivity of PEG-AuNPs, we investigated their effect on human chronic myeloid leukemia K562 cells. The results indicated that PEG-AuNPs markedly inhibited the viability and impaired the cell membrane integrity of K562 cells. The particles caused morphological changes typical of cell death, and a marked increase in the sub-G1 population in DNA histogram, indicating apoptosis. In addition, PEG-AuNPs reduced the mitochondrial transmembrane potential, a hallmark of the involvement of intrinsic apoptotic pathway in K562 cells. Observation of ultrastructure under a transmission electron microscope revealed that the internalized PEG-AuNPs were distributed into cytoplasmic vacuoles and damaged mitochondria, and subsequently accumulated in areas surrounding the nuclear membrane. In conclusion, PEG-AuNPs may have the potential to inhibit growth and induce apoptosis in human chronic myeloid leukemia cells. SN - 2314-6133 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/182353 DO - 10.1155/2014/182353 JF - BioMed Research International PB - Hindawi Publishing Corporation KW - ER -