A Novel Copper Oxide Nanoparticle Conjugated by Thiosemicarbazone Promote Apoptosis in Human Breast Cancer Cell Line

The current study highlights the apoptotic activity of copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles functionalized by Glutamic acid and conjugated by thiosemicarbazone (TSC) toward human breast cancer (MCF-7) and normal (HEK293) cell lines. To this aim, the co-precipitation method was used for preparation the CuO nanoparticles. Afterward, the CuO nanoparticles functionalized by glutamic acid. After that the functionalized copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO@Glu) conjugated to thiosemicarbazone. In next step, the final nanoparticle product (CuO@Glu/TSC) was characterized by physico-chemical techniques including Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), zeta potential analysis and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The effects of in vitro cell viability in CuO@Glu/TSC nanoparticles showed the anti-proliferative properties with a dose-dependent manner (IC₅₀?=?133.97 µg/ml). The IC₅₀ of CuO@Glu/TSC on normal cell line was 230.2 µg/ml. This IC₅₀ deference shows high cytotoxicity of CuO@Glu/TSC nanoparticles on tumor cells and low cytotoxicity on non-tumorigenic cells (HEK293) and is considered as an important aspect for this nanoparticles. Also, CuO@Glu/TSC nanoparticles had efficient effects in inhibiting the growth of breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). In addition, the CuO@Glu/TSC nanoparticle induced apoptosis symptoms which were assessed by Caspase-3 activation assay, Annexin V/ propidium iodide flow cytometry, and Hoechst 33258 staining. Further, Bax and Bcl-2 genes expression was estimated by real time PCR. The expression of Bax increased 1.69 fold, while the expression of Bcl-2 decreased 0.6 fold. The results of the current study propose that CuO@Glu/TSC nanoparticles reveal effective anti-cancer activity against breast cancer cell line.