A comparative anticancer analysis of iron oxide nanoparticles of Hippophae rhamnoides and Cichorium intybus found in the Karakoram Range of Gilgit Baltistan against liver cancer targeting the RhoA gene.

Objective: The current research work focused on the evaluation of of H. rhamnoides and C. intybus Fe₂O₃ NPs against liver cancer cell line (HepG2) by performing antiproliferative assay targeting the RhoA gene and apoptotic pathway genes and proteins.

Methods: Fe₂O₃ NPs were synthesized using extracts of H. rhamnoides and C. intybus and characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, FTIR, SEM/EDS and XRD. MTT assay was used to study cytotoxicity against the HepG2 cells. Real-time qPCR and ELISA were used for the gene and protein analysis.

Results: An absorbance peak at 300 nm for H. rhamnoides and 289 nm for C. intybus nanoparticles were observed by UV-Vis analysis. The FTIR bands of H. rhamnoide Fe₂O₃ NPs suggested the presence of aldehydes, alcohols and polyols whereas bands of C. intybus Fe₂O₃ NPs suggested the presence of carboxyl groups, hydroxyl groups, alkynes and amines. The size of Fe₂O₃ NPs was found to be 27 ± 5nm for H. rhamnoides and 84 ± 4nm for C. intybus. The IC₅₀ value of 41.69 µM for H. rhmnoides and 71.04 µM for C. intybus Fe₂O₃ NPs compared to plant extract (78.10 and 96.03 µM for H. rhamnoides and C. intybus, respectively) were found against HepG2 cells. The gene expression and protein levels of RhoA were decreased whereas those of bax, caspase 3, caspase 8 and caspase 9 were found increased.

Conclusion: Nanoparticles and extract of H. rhamnoides were found more effective as compared to C. intybus, which was evident by the results of cytotoxicity and analysis of studied genes and proteins.