Green synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles from Cinnamomum verum bark extract inhibited cell growth and induced caspase-mediated apoptosis in oral cancer KB cells

Oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide with increased mortality cases. Recently, nanomedicines have received greater research attention for cancer treatments. The current exploration focuses to formulate the zinc oxide nanoparticles from C.verum bark (CV-ZnONPs) and assess its in vitro anticancer potentials against oral cancer KB cells. The CV-ZnONPs were synthesized by standard method and then characterized by UV–visible spectrophotometry, XRD, TEM, EDX, FT-IR, and photoluminescence (PL) techniques. The cytotoxicity of CV-ZnONPs against KB cells was assessed using an MTT assay. The level of ROS and MMP in the CV-ZnONPs treated KB cells were measured using DCFH-DA and RH-123 staining, respectively. The dual staining, DAPI, and PI staining were employed to study apoptotic cell death. The comet assay, cell adhesion, and caspase activities were examined, respectively. Our outcomes confirmed that the CV-ZnONPs have inhibited the KB cell viability. The treatment with the 15 and 20 μg of CV-ZnONPs effectively diminished the MMP and enhanced the ROS status in the KB cells. The outcomes of AO/EB, DAPI, and PI staining confirmed that the formulated CV-ZnONPs triggered apoptosis in the KB cells. The cell adhesion was decreased and caspase activities were improved in the KB cells by the CV-ZnONPs treatment. In overall, our findings proved that the formulated CV-ZnONPs have shown effective in vitro anticancer activity against oral cancer KB cells, hence it can be a talented anticancer formulation to treat oral cancer in the future. [Display omitted]