Evaluation of the anticancer effects of Samarium nanoparticles synthesized by extract of ginger on HCT116 colorectal cancer cells

In the past decades, nanotechnology has received much attention in order to develop new drug delivery systems to overcome the limitations of routine drugs in the treatment of diseases. Nanotechnology offers very useful applications in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, as nanomaterials can penetrate into body tissues at the cellular and molecular levels.

In the present study, samarium nanoparticles were synthesized by the extract of ginger using green chemistry synthesis method. The size of the synthesized nanoparticles was investigated by dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique and formation of new functional groups was investigated by FT_IR technique. The morphology of the nanoparticles was determined using FE-SEM scanning electron microscopy. Finally, the cytotoxicity and anticancer activity of samarium nanoparticles were studied against human colorectal cancer cell line of HCT116 after 24 and 48 hours incubation times using tetrazolium colorimetric assay (MTT assay).

Dynamic light scattering data in agreement with Fe-SEM data revealed the formation of globular nanoparticles of 60 nm. Cell survival assay showed Ic50 values (the concentration of the compound that induces 50% death in cancer cells) of 90 (equal to 23.1 mg/ml) and 81 μM (equal to 20.7 mg/ml) of samarium nanoparticles on HCT116 cell line after 24 and 48 hours incubation times, respectively.

It is concluded that the newly green synthesized samarium nanoparticles with anticancer activity might be a good candidate for colon cancer therapy.