Synergistic cytotoxicity of bevacizumab and silver nanoparticles on ovarian cancer cell line (A2780) and analysis of Bcl-2 and caspase 3 apoptotic genes expression

The aim of the present study was to investigate the synergistic cytotoxicity effects of silver nanoparticles and bevacizumab against ovarian cancer cell line (A2780) and to analyze the expression of caspase 3 and Bcl-2 apoptotic genes.

The cytotoxicity of silver nanoparticles and bevacizumab at different concentrations including 62.5 to 1000 μg/ml and 1000 to 3000 μg/ml, respectively was investigated against A2780 cell line by MTT colorimetric method. Moreover, the expression of caspase 3 and Bcl2 apoptotic genes were studied using Real-Time PCR.

The results of this study showed that the silver nanoparticles and bevacizumab had dose-dependent toxicity and there were more significant cytotoxic effects than the single drug (p <0.05). Also, the IC50 values of silver nanoparticles and bevacizumab were 12.72±0.56 and 22.72±1.21 μg/ml, respectively. Also, the silver nanoparticles and bevacizumab changed the expression of caspase 3 and Bcl2 genes, respectively, which was significant compared to the housekeeping gene (p <0.05).

The results of this study showed that the silver nanoparticles-bevacizumab has a synergistic effect. However, more studies are needed to use this compound as a drug candidate.