Anti-cancer efficacy of Aloe vera capped hematite nanoparticles in human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells

Abstract

We have applied a green approach employing the Aloe vera bioactives to encapsulate the hematite nanoparticles (ALE-α-Fe2O3NPs), and invested its potential to kill human breast cancer cells (MCF-7). Cytotoxicity analysis by [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide)] (MTT) and neutral red uptake (NRU) assays showed 36% and 33% reduction in cell viability at 100 μg/ml of ALE-α-Fe2O3NPs. Relative to untreated control, flow cytometric (FCM) analysis revealed 68.97% greater internalization of ALE-α-Fe2O3NPs in MCF-7 cells. FCM study further confirmed ALE-α-Fe2O3NPs induced reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), and increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). MCF-7 cells treated with ALE-α-Fe2O3NPs demonstrated DNA damage quantified by the comet assay. MCF-7 cells explicitly showed an increase in sub-G1 peak (36.3%) at 100 μg/ml of ALE-α-Fe2O3NPs, confirming apoptotic cell death. qPCR data of apoptotic genes (p53, bax, caspase-3 and caspase-9) in MCF-7 cells showed enhanced upregulation upon ALE-α-Fe2O3NPs exposure. Overall, our data give a comprehensive, safe, cost-effective, and scalable biogenic nano-formulation of ALE-α-Fe2O3NPs for its putative clinical applications as anti-cancer drug.