Synergistic Effect of Vitamin C with Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Inhibiting Proliferation of Gastric Cancer Cells

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore the synergistic anticancer effect of combined L-ascorbic acid (LAA) with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) on adenocarcinoma gastric cell line (AGS). Fe3O4-LAA was synthesized using the reverse co-precipitation technique. XRD, FT-IR, FESEM, and TEM were employed to characterize the synthesized nanoparticles. MTT test and Real-time PCR were performed to investigate the cytotoxicity and apoptosis induced by treatments. The present study indicated that the anticancer properties of vitamin C were increased when employed as the Fe3O4-LAA nanoparticles. A dose-dependent manner on the effect of Fe3O4-LAA on investigated genes was observed; p53 gene expression changes in high and low doses of Fe3O4-LAA were 7.4 and 3.1 fold, respectively; accordingly, Bcl2 gene expression under treatment with high and low doses of Fe3O4-LAA was reduced by 71% and 25%, respectively. In conclusion, our results indicated that Fe3O4-LAA nanoparticles might be an efficient agent for cancer treatment.