Magnetic nanoparticles enhance the anticancer activity of cathelicidin LL-37 peptide against colon cancer cells.

The pleiotropic activity of human cathelicidin LL-37 peptide includes an ability to suppress development of colon cancer cells. We hypothesized that the anticancer activity of LL-37 would improve when attached to the surface of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). Using colon cancer culture (DLD-1 cells and HT-29 cells), we evaluated the effects of MNPs, LL-37 peptide, its synthetic analog ceragenin CSA-13, and two novel nanosystems, ie, MNP@LL-37 and MNP@CSA-13, on cancer cell viability and apoptosis. Treatment of cancer cells with the LL-37 peptide linked to MNPs (MNP@LL-37) caused a greater decrease in cell viability and a higher rate of apoptosis compared with treatment using free LL-37 peptide. Additionally, we observed a strong ability of ceragenin CSA-13 and MNP@CSA-13 to induce apoptosis of DLD-1 cells. We found that both nanosystems were successfully internalized by HT-29 cells, and cathelicidin LL-37 and ceragenin CSA-13 might play a key role as novel homing molecules. These results indicate that the previously described anticancer activity of LL-37 peptide against colon cancer cells might be significantly improved using a theranostic approach.