Iron oxide nanoparticles functionalized with 3-chloropropyltrimethoxysilane and conjugated with thiazole alter the expression of BAX, BCL2, and p53 genes in AGS cell line

Abstract

Gastric cancer is a common type of cancer worldwide and has few therapeutic remedies. Studies indicated that thiazole derivatives have anticancer effects. Furthermore, magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (M-IONPs) have attracted much attention in drug delivery systems. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4) functionalized with 3-Chloropropyltrimethoxysilane (CPTMOS) and conjugated by 1-((3-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl) methylene)-2-(4-phenylthiazol-2-yl) hydrazine (TP) (Fe3O4@CPTMOS/TP NPs) on gastric cancer cell line as well as the expression of BAX, BCL2 and p53 genes. In this study, iron oxide nanoparticles were first synthesized by the co-precipitation method. To characterize the synthesized Fe3O4@CPTMOS/TP NPs, the physicochemical tests including XRD, EDX, SEM, FTIR, DLS and Zeta potential analyses were done. By using the MTT assay, the amount of IC50 was measured in the treated cells. Thereafter, the expression of BAX, BCL2, and p53 genes was evaluated using the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR). The DLS analysis indicated the hydrodynamic size of Fe3O4@CPTMOS/TP NPs was about 191 nm. Also, the zeta potential index was −8.97 mV. The amount of IC50 was equal to 95.65 µg/ml in AGS cells. The Q-PCR showed a 1.37 fold in ratio expression of BAX/BCL2 and a 1.37 fold in expression of p53 gene in cells treated with NPs. The results indicated that the Fe3O4@CPTMOS/TP NPs had the ability to induce the apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells (AGS) by increasing the expression of BAX/BCL2 ratio and p53 gene.