Figure 6.

Elevation of caspase 3/7 activity in cancer cells after treatment with Apt-AuNS and Apt-AuNS + hν. Higher increases in caspase activities (up to 6-fold) are observed in all cancer cells treated with Apt-AuNS + hν. Up to a 4-fold increase of caspase 3/7 activities after treatment with Apt-AuNS indicates that large populations of cancer cells entered apoptosis. Negligible increase in caspase 3/7 activities in cancer cells from treatment with 450 nM AS1411 (less than 1.5-fold). Notably, there are no significant adverse effects observed in normal cells after exposure to laser irradiation. p-values were determined using one-way ANOVA test. Lines over bars indicate groups that are not significantly different.