Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanoparticles for Prostate Cancer Treatment

In recent years, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nanoparticles have gained significant interest in the medical and biomedical fields owing to their unique physicochemical properties including high surface area, low toxicity, and slow degradation in aqueous media. With its possible degradation product boric acid (BA), a compound of an essential element for the healthy function of biomachinery, a comparative evaluation of hBN and BA can reveal important information about the possible use of these novel materials in medicine. In this study, the influence of hBN and BA on prostate cancer cells was comparatively investigated by emphasizing the effect mechanisms through a number of molecular tests. First, the high cellular internalization capacity of hBN, as well as the high cellular sensitivity of prostate cancer cells that cause a significant cell viability decrease on the contrary of healthy cells, was evaluated. In order to evaluate their cancer repression effect, mitochondrial dysfunction, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and cell death mechanisms were investigated. Finally, the metastatic capacities of the cancer cells were tested by monitoring the cytoskeleton structures and migration capacity of cells exposed to hBN. The results clearly indicate that hBN promotes prostate cancer cell apoptosis by seriously increasing ROS production. Moreover, their metastatic capacity decrement encouraged us to exploit hBN as a safe therapeutic agent against prostate cancer.