Doxorubicin is the most common chemotherapy drug used in cancer therapy. Its usage is associated with various side-effects. In order to overcome the challenges in Doxorubicin administration, the present study has focussed on synthesizing a drug conjugate with biosynthesized gold nanoparticles and doxorubicin. The gold nanoparticles were biosynthesized using green extracts of medicinal plants with potential anticancer activities. The nanoparticle that possesses anticancer activity was conjugated with the drug for a combinatorial effect of the nanoparticles and the drug. The in vitro cytotoxicity was checked in Vero cell line through MTT assay. The in vitro anti proliferative effects were screened against cervical cancer in HeLa cell line. Fluorescence activated cell sorting analysis was carried out to detect the difference between live and dead cell populations. The preliminary confirmation was carried out in UV-VIS spectrophotometer. The morphological characterization was carried out by SEM and stability by Zeta potential. The IC50 of the nanocompounds demonstrated anti-proliferative activity against cervical cancer similar to the chemotherapeutic drug, Doxorubicin; additionally in a much lesser concentration of the drug. The in vitro cytotoxicity exhibited high viability of cells in Vero cell line with minimum viability of 80% in all the tested concentrations. There was a synergistic effect of the nanoparticles along with the drug; thereby an enhanced therapeutic efficiency was achieved. FACS analysis showed 36% of cell death in Dox treated HeLa cells whereas 96% of cell death in Nano-Dox treated HeLa cells. Nano-Dox conjugate has demonstrated high anticancer effects than drug alone Doxorubicin. Further biosynthesized nanomaterials based drug formulation can be developed as a potential strategy in cancer therapy.
A Review on Gold Nanoparticles (GNPs) and their Advancement in Cancer Therapy