Assessment of the effect of CoFe2O4@Ag synthesized by Spirulina platensis on colon cancer cell line and evaluation the expression of BAX and Bcl-2 genes

Colorectal cancer is a common cancer in both men and women. Colorectal cancer is the third widely diagnosed cancer in the world. The emergence of nanotechnology led the researchers to introduce novel nano-products for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Treating colon cancer has difficulties associated with the inefficiency of adjuvant chemotherapy and the development of metastatic disease. In this work, CoFe2O4@Ag nanocomposite was synthesized using the Spirulina platensis extract and characterized by FT-IR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy), XRD (X-Ray diffraction), SEM (Scanning electron microscopy), TEM (Transmission electron microscopy), DLS (Dynamic light scattering), Zeta potential, and EDS-mapping analyses. Then, the effect of the nanocomposite on the survival, apoptosis, and expression of the BAX and Bcl-2 genes in colon cancer cells was investigated. The spherical nanocomposite particles were synthesized properly with a size range of 20-40 nm, the zeta potential of -42 mV, and hydrodynamic size of 250 nm. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of the nanocomposite for normal and colon cancer cells was measured 256 and 65 µg/mL, respectively, indicating the higher susceptibility of cancer cells. Further, treating colon cancer cells with the nanocomposite significantly increased the frequency of apoptotic cells from 4.47 to 65.6%. In addition, the BAX and Bcl-2 genes were up-regulated by 2.7 and 1.25 folds, respectively. According to the results, the CoFe2O4@Ag could considerably inhibit colon cancer cells through the activation of the pro-apoptotic signaling pathways.