Novel Silymarin-Loaded Biosynthesized AgNPs for Improving Anticancer Activities in Breast Cancer

Plant-derived compounds with anti-cancer effects are known as new candidates for treatment. Silymarin is one of these effective compounds; however, the low solubility of silymarin in aqueous systems can be one of the possible obstacles. Nanotechnology has been used to increase the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs. In this study, silymarin was delivered with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to breast cancer cells. Nanoparticles were synthesized by the green method using gallic acid. Silymarin loading into nanoparticles was confirmed by FTIR. The toxicity of AgNPs, silymarin, and AgNPs/silymarin on two different breast cancer lines (MCF7 and MDA-MB-231) and normal HDF cells was investigated. According to results, AgNPs/silymarin exhibited a greater lethal effect on cancer lines compared to single treatment and much less lethal effect on the HDF cell. Inhibition of colony formation, migration and increased apoptosis were found to be effective on the treatment with AgNPs/silymarin compared to single treatments. The highest decrease in the expression of genes involved in metastasis, KRAS, MMP2/9, and TPM3 was observed. The use of AgNPs to deliver silymarin to cancer cells creates different inhibitory mechanisms against cancer cells, which highlights the use of AgNPs as drug delivery systems in cancer.