Selective Tumor Cell Inhibition Effect of Ni–Ti Layered Double Hydroxides Thin Films Driven by the Reversed pH Gradients of Tumor Cells

Nitinol is widely fabricated as stents for the palliation treatment of many kinds of cancers. It is of great importance to develop nitinol stents with selective tumor cell inhibition effects. In this work, a series of pH sensitive films composed of Ni(OH)2 and Ni-Ti layered double hydroxide (Ni-Ti LDH) with different Ni/Ti ratios were prepared on the surface of nitinol via hydrothermal treatment. The films with specific Ni/Ti ratios would release a large amount of nickel ions under acidic environments but were relatively stable in neutral or weak alkaline medium. Cell viability tests showed that the films can effectively inhibit the growth of cancer cells but have little adverse effects to normal cells. Besides, extraordinarily high intracellular nickel content and reactive oxygen species (ROS) level were found in cancer cells, indicating the death of cancer cells may be induced by the excessive intake of nickel ions. Such selective cancer cell inhibition effect of the films is supposed to relate with the reversed pH gradients of tumor cells.