PMID:
J Biomed Mater Res A. 2020 Apr 21. Epub 2020 Apr 21. PMID: 32319188
Abstract Title:
β-sitosterol assisted silver nanoparticles activates Nrf2 and triggers mitochondrial apoptosis via oxidative stress in human hepatocellular cancer cell line.
Abstract:
Cancer nanomedicine is an emerging field of cancer therapeutics. Incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma is increasing worldwide and currently, it is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. This study investigates the cytotoxic potential ofβ-sitosterol assisted silver nanoparticles (BSS-SNPs) in HepG2 cells. The silver nanoparticles were synthesized using β-sitosterol as a reducing and stabilizing agent. The characterization of BSS-SNPs was done by UV-visible spectrophotometry and transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis. HepG2 cells were treated with different concentrations of BSS-SNPs for 24 h and cytotoxicity was evaluated by MTT assay. Intracellular ROS was investigated by 2',7' -dichlorofluorescin diacetate staining. The nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf-2) protein expression was investigated by immunofluorescence staining. Morphology-related to apoptotic changes were analyzed by annexin V staining. Intrinsic apoptosis pathway related molecular markers were investigated by western blotting and PCR analysis. Spectrophotometry analysis confirmed a strong absorption peak at 420 nm, which showed the successful synthesis of BSS-SNPs. The TEM analysis indicated the spherical, rod and hexagonal shaped BSS-SNPs with the size ranges from 5 to 55 nm. BSS-SNPs significantly inhibited the proliferation and induced ROS and Nrf-2 expression in HepG2 cells. BSS-SNPs treatment caused apoptosis-related morphological changes and upregulated the pro-apoptotic markers such as bax, p53, cytochrome c, caspases-9, -3 and downregulated bcl-2 expressions. Our findings suggest that BSS-SNPs might serve as potential drug candidates for hepatocellular carcinoma.
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