Evaluation of the cytotoxic effect of GaFe2O4@Ag magnetic nanocomposite biosynthesized by Spirulina platensis on breast cancer cell line and evaluation of BAX, Bcl-2, CASP9 and MMP1 genes expression

Abstract

Abstract Treating breast cancer is hardly achieved and finding efficient anticancer nanocompounds has gained great attention. In this work, the cytotoxic effect of GaFe2O4@Ag nanocomposite biosynthesized by Spirulina platensis on breast cancer cell line and expression of the BAX, Bcl-2, CASP9 and MMP1 (Matrix Metallopeptidase 1) genes were evaluated. Physicochemical features of the nanocomposite were determined using the FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX-mapping, VSM, Zeta potential, and DLS analyses. The cytotoxic effect of the nanocomposite for MCF-7 and HEK-293 cells was evaluated by the MTT assay. Flow cytometry analysis, Caspase-3 activation assay, and Hoechst staining were performed to evaluate the apoptosis induction potential of the nanocomposite. Further, the relative expression of the Bcl-2, BAX, and CASP9 genes was determined by quantitative PCR assay. The prepared nanocomposite was spherical with a size range of 35–60 nm. The hydrodynamic size and zeta potential of the nanocomposite were 328 nm and − 31.8 mv, respectively. GaFe2O4@Ag nanocomposite had a higher cytotoxic effect on breast cancer cells than normal human cells with the IC50 of 18.6 and 220 µg/mL, respectively. Treating breast cancer cells with the nanocomposite induced apoptosis among 85.2% of cells, increased caspase-3 activity by 4.3 folds, and caused apoptotic nuclear changes. Also, GaFe2O4@Ag reduced the expression of the Bcl-2 and MMP1 by 1.3 and 0.6 folds and up-regulated the BAX and CASP9 genes by 2.7 and 2.65 folds, respectively. Our results revealed that GaFe2O4@Ag was highly cytotoxic for breast cancer cells via triggering apoptosis pathways and could be considered as a novel and efficient agent against breast cancer, after further in-vivo experiments.