Abstract
Cancer statistics display high malignant breast cancer cases every year due to its aggressive growth rate. The emergence of nanomedicines has helped tremendously eradicate cancer, starting with diagnosis, therapy, intensive analysis, and further interventions. Bismuth-based nanoparticles are one of the various metal nanoparticles used as radiosensitizers to increase cancer tissue sensitivity when irradiated in radiotherapy treatment. In-vitro cytotoxicity assay is mandatory to ensure that the nanoparticles do not induce lethal toxicity to the cells before being deemed suitable for clinical use. The research aims to investigate the cytotoxicity effect of polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated-coated (PVP) bismuth nanoparticles on the MCF-7 cancer cell line. Uncoated bismuth nanoparticles (BiNPs) and PVP-coated bismuth sulphide nanoparticles (Bi2S3-PVP 8000 and Bi2S3-PVP 29000) within the range of 0.00005 to 0.5 mMol/L were tested on MCF-7 cancer cell lines for 24, 48, and 72 h. The cytotoxicity assay results indicate the uncoated bismuth nanoparticles have minimal toxicity on MCF-7 treated with BiNPs across 24 to 72 h of incubation compared to PVP-coated counterparts. Reduction of cell viability within 1.6 – 11.3% is observed during 48 h post-treatment of BiNPs with different concentrations, with a slight improvement of viability after 72 h. However, Bi2S3-PVP 8000 and Bi2S3-PVP 29000 exhibit non-toxic effects on cells yet induced abnormally high cell proliferation levels up to 5.4 folds for Bi2S3-PVP 8000 and 5.9 folds for Bi2S3-PVP 29000 compared to their control groups. The unwanted proliferation is counterproductive as the nanoparticles must withhold the growth of cancer cells besides increasing the radiosensitivity when irradiated. The results concluded that MCF-7 cell viability and cell proliferation are concentration-dependent when using PVP as bismuth nanoparticles coating. Further study is needed to investigate the PVP-coated bismuth nanoparticles effect on different types of cells in addition to more extensive cytotoxicity analysis.