Purpose
Gastric carcinoma is the fourth most common malignancy worldwide and remains the second cause of death of all malignancies worldwide. Today, despite advances in treatment, cancer is still the second leading cause of death worldwide. In the meantime, nanotechnology has helped to achieve fast and effective treatment. Today, Thiosemicarbazones has emerged as a new wave of drugs in recent years. Since these compounds alone have not been very successful in treating cancer, combining them with different nanoparticles has significantly increased the chances of success.
Methods
In this study, first Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized and then functionalized by glutamine (Gln) and finally conjugated to Thiosemicarbazide (ZnO@Gln-TSC) by co-precipitation method. Physicochemical method including FTIR, DLS, XRD, EDS-map, Zeta-potential, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and imaging electron microscopy (TEM) techniques were used to investigate the synthesis of ZnO@Gln-TSC nanoparticles. The toxicity effects of ZnO@Gln-TSC nanoparticles and Oxaliplatin drug at different concentrations were investigated by MTT assay on adenocarcinoma gastric (AGS) cell line and normal cell line (HEK293). Apoptosis (programmed cell death) was also evaluated by Flow cytometry (Annexin V/ PI kit), cell cycle analysis and Hoechst staining.
Results
The synthesis of ZnO@Gln-TSC nanoparticles (NPs) was confirmed by chemical confirmation tests. The size of synthesized NPs was reported in the range of 40 to 70 nm. Also, a number of -31.7 mV in the Zeta-potential test indicated the stability of the produced nanoparticle. EDS analysis showed the elements of final NPs. DLS analysis showed the size of the hydrated NP at 374 nm. MTT test showed that the IC50 of NPs was 9.8 µg/ml and Oxaliplatin drug 65.7 µg/ml for cancer cells in comparison the IC50 of 150 µg/ml for normal cells. Hoechst staining confirmed that the NPs can induce apoptosis and cell death in cancer cell line. Flow cytometry analysis showed apoptosis induction among NPs treated cells than controls with the frequency of 55.5% and 9.48% for the early and late apoptosis, respectively.
Conclusion
This study revealed the promising anticancer potential of NPs to be used for gastric cancer treatment after further characterization using in-vitro and in-vivo assays.