Anti-proliferative effect of biogenic gold nanoparticles against breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 & MCF-7)

• Published in: Applied surface science 2016-05, Vol.371, p.415-424
• Main Authors: K.S., Uma Suganya, K., Govindaraju, V., Ganesh Kumar, D., Prabhu, C., Arulvasu, T., Stalin Dhas, V., Karthick, Changmai, Niranjan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anti-cancer activity; Apoptosis; Assaying; Bioassay; Breast; Cancer; Damage detection; Flow cytometry; Gold; Gold nanoparticles; Mimosa pudica; Nanoparticles; Staining
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.03.004

[Display omitted] •Biosynthesis of stable and well dispersed predominantly spherical gold nanoparticles of size around ∼12.5nm.•Anticancer assessment of gold nanoparticles on MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines.•AuNPs were found non toxic to normal HMEC cells.•Flow cytometry results revealed significant arrest in cell proliferation in early G0/G1 to S phase. Breast cancer is a major complication in women and numerous approaches are being developed to overcome this problem. In conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy the post side effects cause an unsuitable effect in treatment of cancer. Hence, it is essential to develop a novel strategy for the treatment of this disease. In the present investigation, a possible route for green synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using leaf extract of Mimosa pudica and its anticancer efficacy in the treatment of breast cancer cell lines is studied. The synthesized nanoparticles were found to be effective in killing cancer cells (MDA-MB-231 & MCF-7) which were studied using various anticancer assays (MTT assay, cell morphology determination, cell cycle analysis, comet assay, Annexin V-FITC/PI staining and DAPI staining). Cell morphological analysis showed the changes occurred in cancer cells during the treatment with AuNPs. Cell cycle analysis revealed apoptosis in G0/G1 to S phase. Similarly in Comet assay, there was an increase in tail length in treated cells in comparison with the control. Annexin V-FITC/PI staining assay showed prompt fluorescence in treated cells indicating the translocation of phosphatidylserine from the inner membrane. PI and DAPI staining showed the DNA damage in treated cells.