Evaluation of Metastasis Suppressor Genes Expression and in Vitro Anti-CancerEffects of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles in Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines MCF-7 and T47D

Background: metallic nanoparticles are useful materials to be applied in biomedicalresearch. in this study, the possible apoptotic and anti-metastatic activity of zinc oxidenanoparticles (znonps) was assessed in breast cancer cells.methods: first, in vitro cell viability was investigated by mtt assay in two humanbreast cancer cells (mcf-7 and t47d) and normal human embryonic kidney (hek293)cells at 37°c overnight. apoptosis induced by znonps was evaluated by annexin v/pistaining, cell cycle analysis and caspase assay in cancerous cells. moreover, quantitativereal-time pcr was employed for the detection of two metastasis suppressor genes(kai-1 and nm23) expression in cancerous cells.results: data demonstrated that znonps exert a dose-dependent inhibitory effect onthe viability of t47d and mcf-7 cells, while no cytotoxic effect was observed on normalhek293 cells. the mrna expression levels of kai-1 and non-metastatic protein(nm23) genes were up-regulated in znonp-exposed cancerous cells. znonps werealso found to enhance the apoptosis properties of cells by annexin v/pi staining, andcaspase assay in cancerous cells. furthermore, znonps can increase sub-g1 populationas compared to negative control.conclusion: our findings showed that znonps induce apoptotic activity and canmodulate metastasis by up-regulating of kai-1 and nm23 gene expression in twobreast cancer (mcf-7 and t47d) cells.