Evaluation the cytotoxic effect of Fe 3 O 4 @Glu-Gingerol on lung adenocarcinoma cell line (A549) with biological mechanisms

The use of nanotechnology products with supermagnetic properties for targeted delivery of drugs has gained attention recently. Due to the anticancer features of Gingerol, the major phenolic compound from Ginger, this study aims to prepare Fe O @Glucose-Gingerol nanoparticles (NPs) and investigate their anticancer potential in a lung adenocarcinoma cell line. The physical and chemical features of the nanoparticles were investigated by FT-IR, XRD, zeta potential, DLS, EDS mapping, VSM, and electron microscope imaging. Cytotoxic effects of the nanoparticles for the A549 (lung adenocarcinoma) and MRC-5 (normal) cell lines was investigated by MTT assay. Furthermore, the effects of Fe O @Glucose-Gingerol nanoparticles on the expression of the , , and genes and the activity of Caspase 3 were characterized. The flow cytometry assay (annexin V/PI) was employed to find out the percentage of apoptotic cells. The Fe O @Glu-Gingerol NPs were spherical (42-67 nm), without elemental impurity, and with surface charge, DLS size, and magnetic saturation of -47.7 mV, 154 nm, and 35 emu/g, respectively. Fe O @Glu-Gingerol NPs showed a remarkable greater toxicity in the A549 cells than normal cell line with the 50 % inhibition concentration (IC ) of 190 and 554 μg/mL, respectively. Treatment of lung adenocarcinoma cells with the Fe O @Glu-Gingerol NPs led to an increase in cell apoptosis from 4.6 to 39.48 %. Also, the and genes were upregulated by 2.49 and 2.8 folds, respectively, while a downregulation by 0.75 folds was noticed for the . Moreover, apoptotic features were observed in Fe O @Glu-Gingerol NPs treated cells by Hoechst staining, and activation of Caspase 3 by 2.8 folds. This study revealed that the Fe O @Glu-Gingerol NPs have antiproliferative effects on the lung adenocarcinoma cell line by activation of intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis that is a promising feature in cancer treatment.