Indole conjugated silica and magnetic nanoparticles as inhibitors of HIF

Multifunctional silica nano-vehicles (SiO2@indol-IL) and magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@indol-IL) were constructed through the Schiff bases condensation of indole-3-carboxaldehyde and 4-acetyl-N-allyl pyridinium chloride (ILs) with the amine groups of silica and magnetic nanoparticles. SiO2@indol-IL can inhibit the proliferation of HepG-2 cells in 48 h. Fe3O4@indol-IL can mimic the function of catalase to disproportionate H2O2 to O2, and has obvious effect on the proliferation of HepG-2 cells in 72 h. Moreover, the two nanoparticles show some inhibition on the expression of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1α), glucose transporter (GLUT1) and the production of lactate in HepG-2 cells. Therefore, we deduced that indole conjugated silica and magnetic nanparticles could be used as inhibitors of HIF-1α or GLUT1.