synergistic effect of quercetin and cobalt ferrite-graphene oxide-based hyperthermia to inhibit expression of heat shock proteins and induce apoptosis in breast cancer cells

Background: combinatorial medicine includes promising therapeutic methods for diseases such as cancer, whereby various biochemical and physical agents are simultaneously used to remove tumors. for example, the effectiveness of hyperthermia as a new technique for cancer therapy, can be enhanced, if it is combined with chemical compounds. herein, the influence of quercetin as a heat shock protein (hsp) inhibitor on the efficiency of cobalt ferrite-graphene oxide (cofe2o4-go) nanoparticles-based hyperthermia was investigated in an in vitro study. methods: firstly, the surface of graphene sheets was decorated with cofe2o4 nanoparticles (5-8 nm) and assayed using transmission electron microscopy (tem), vibrating-sample magnetometer (vsm) and x-ray diffraction (xrd) methods. the cytotoxic effect of the corresponding co-implementation was then examined in mcf7 cell line with or without hyperthermia by (3-(4,5-dimethyl thiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) (mtt) test for 24, 48 and 72 hrs. in addition, the expression of bax, bcl2 and hsp70 genes and the production of radicals were evaluated by real-time pcr and dpph (2,2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl) assays, respectively. results: the study showed that the doses associated with the ic50 points for quercetin and the cofe2o4-go nanocomposite were 0.02 mg/ml and 0.001 g/ml, respectively. the results showed that the simultaneous treatment of the cancer cells with quercetin, the nanocomposite, and hyperthermia significantly improves the cytotoxicity effect, increases the expression of bax gene and down-regulates hsp70 and bcl2 genes. in addition, the greatest attenuation of dpph free radicals was observed in the corresponding group. conclusion: the hybrid treatment of quercetin and the nanoparticle in the presence of hyperthermia could be considered as a promising approach for cancer therapy with minor side effects.