Cytotoxic Effect of a Novel GaFe 2 O 4 @Ag Nanocomposite Synthesized by Scenedesmus obliquus on Gastric Cancer Cell Line and Evaluation of BAX , Bcl-2 and CASP8 Genes Expression

Finding novel and efficient anticancer compounds for treating gastric cancer is vitally important and magnetic nanocomposites have gained attention for cancer chemotherapy. In this work, GaFe 2 O 4 @Ag nanocomposite was fabricated by Scenedesmus obliquus extract, characterized by physio-chemical analyses, including FT-IR, XRD, DLS, VSM, Zeta potential, SEM, TEM, and EDS-mapping. Then, the anti-cancer effect of the fabricated nanocomposite on gastric cancer cells was investigated. The spherical fabricated nanocomposite particles were in the size range of 10–50 nm, without elemental impurity and with a zeta potential of − 45.7 mV. The functional groups in nanocomposites were characterized by the FT-IR and the presence of Ag by XRD analysis. The inhibitory concentration 50 (IC 50 ) of GaFe 2 O 4 @Ag for the AGS and HEK293 normal cells was 64.4 and 305 µg/mL, respectively. The flow cytometry analysis showed apoptosis induction in 87.11% of nanocomposite treated cells and also cell cycle arrest at sub-G1 phase by 94.77%, which were significantly higher than control cells. Increased expression of the BAX , Bcl-2 , and CASP8 genes was noticed by 2.65, 1.25, and 1.95 folds, respectively. Finally, the Hoechst staining showed pro-apoptotic morphological features in nanocomposite treated cells. The results suggest activation of the apoptotic pathway as the main cytotoxic mechanism of the fabricated nanocomposite. Therefore, GaFe 2 O 4 @Ag could be a promising anticancer agent against gastric cancer cells.