Development of novel anti-Kv 11.1 antibody-conjugated PEG–TiO2 nanoparticles for targeting pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been widely used in many nanotechnology areas including nanomedicine, where it could be proposed for the photodynamic and sonodynamic cancer therapies. However, TiO2 nanoformulations have been shown to be toxic for living cells. In this article, we report the development of a new delivery system, based on nontoxic TiO2 nanoparticles, further conjugated with a monoclonal antibody against a novel and easily accessible tumor marker, e.g., the Kv 11.1 potassium channel. We synthesized, by simple solvothermal method, dicarboxylic acid-terminated PEG TiO2 nanocrystals (PEG-TiO2 NPs). Anti-Kv 11.1 monoclonal antibodies (Kv 11.1-Mab) were further linked to the terminal carboxylic acid groups. Proper conjugation was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. Kv 11.1-Mab-PEG-TiO2 NPs efficiently recognized the specific Kv 11.1 antigen, both in vitro and in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells, which express the Kv 11.1 channel onto the plasma membrane. Both PEG TiO2 and Kv 11.1-Mab-PEG-TiO2 NPs were not cytotoxic, but only Kv 11.1-Mab-PEG-TiO2 NPs were efficiently internalized into PDAC cells. Data gathered from this study may have further applications for the chemical design of nanostructures to be applied for therapeutic purposes in pancreatic cancer.