TXRF Spectrometry for Investigating CaF2:Nd3+,Y3+ Nanoparticle Diffusion in Tumoral Cancer 3D Spheroids

TL;DR

This paper uses TXRF spectrometry to study how rare-earth-doped nanoparticles diffuse into 3D cancer spheroids, finding higher accumulation in glioblastoma cells.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel application of TXRF spectrometry for quantifying nanoparticle diffusion in 3D tumor models with high precision.

Findings

TXRF spectrometry effectively quantifies CaF2:Nd3+,Y3+ nanoparticle uptake in 3D cancer spheroids.

Higher nanoparticle accumulation is observed in glioblastoma (U-87 MG) spheroids compared to breast cancer (MCF-7) spheroids.

A Weibull diffusion model explains the internalization kinetics, indicating cell-line-dependent uptake behavior.

Abstract

Understanding the interactions of nanomaterials with complex tumour models is essential for advancing their use in nanomedicine. Calcium fluoride nanoparticles doped with neodymium and yttrium (CaF2:Nd3+,Y3+) exhibit promising properties for biomedical applications, particularly for optical sensing and tagging. This study investigates their interaction with 3D cell spheroids derived from breast cancer, from Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) and brain cancer, from Uppsala 87 Malignant Glioma (U-87 MG) cell lines as tumour models. Specific protocols have been developed in Total-reflection X-Ray Fluorescence (TXRF) to evaluate nanoparticles’ internalisation and diffusion within spheroids by quantifying the concentrations of Ca, Nd, and Y taken up by the cells. Minimal background interference enabled precise multi-element detection in low-volume biological samples, yielding very low detection limits and minimal uncertainties. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of TXRF for quantifying rare-earth-doped nanoparticles in 3D cancer models and reveals that, although both cell lines permit nanoparticle diffusion into cells, higher accumulation is observed in glioblastoma cell spheroids. A Weibull diffusion model was applied to help understand the observed internalisation kinetics of nanoparticles into U-87 MG and MCF-7 spheroids. The relevant differences suggest cell-line-dependent uptake behaviour, potentially influenced by differences in cellular architecture, the porosity of the generated spheroid, and its intercellular 3D microstructure. These findings highlight the importance of tumour-specific interactions in the investigation of nanoparticle systems for targeted cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

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