Comparative effect of ulvan and biosynthesized silver nanoparticles on different cell lines cytotoxicity and gene expression

Abstract

Until now, researchers searching for compounds that contribute for treating the most serious disease of this age, cancer. Researchers hope to contribute to this through this research. Activities of both Ulvan extracted from Ulva lactuca and silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) were examined against seven different cancer cell types called (Caco2 cells, A549 cells, Mcf7 cells, Hep2 cells, HepG2 cells, PC3 cells, HELA cells). Green synthesized Ag-NPs; via Ulva Lactuca; was characterized by UV-VIS, SEM and TEM. Cell viability assay was conducted to study cytotoxicity effects of both Ulvan and Ag-NPs treatments. RTPCR; using different sense and antisense primers; was carried out to study the expression of GAPDH, Bcl-2, Bax, P21 and P53 (apoptosis related genes) in treated cell lines. SEM and TEM showed that Ag-NPs shape is spherical with average size of 3.89-55 nm. Also, cell viability study showed that both Ulvan and Ag-NPs have cytotoxicity effects on different cancer cells. However, Ag-NPs are more effective than Ulvan. Gene expression data illustrated that both treatments induced down-regulation of Bcl2 and induced up-regulation of P53 genes. This work showed that both Ulvan and Ag-NPs have activities against the investigated cancer cell types.