Abstract

Every year, many people die due to cancer in all of the world. So, the preparation and formulation of new chemotherapeutic supplements and drugs with remarkable effects for the treatment of cancer are in the priority of both developing and developed countries. Recently, gold nanoparticles have been used as modern chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of several cancers such as leukemia, lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, etc. According to the above explanations, we tried to prepare and formulate a chemotherapeutic drug (gold nanoparticles in aqueous medium using Rhus coriaria L. fruit aqueous extract) for the treatment of several types of esophageal cancer including human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, human Caucasian esophageal carcinoma, adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction, and distal esophageal adenocarcinoma. The organometallic chemistry tests such as Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were used for characterizing of gold nanoparticles. For investigating the antioxidant properties of HAuCl4, R. coriaria aqueous extract, and gold nanoparticles, the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) test was used in the presence of butylated hydroxytoluene as the positive control. To survey the cytotoxicity and anti-esophageal cancer effects of HAuCl4, R. coriaria aqueous extract, and gold nanoparticles, dye compound 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromidefor (MTT) assay was used on the human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (KYSE-270), human Caucasian esophageal carcinoma (OE33), adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction (ESO26), and distal esophageal adenocarcinoma (FLO-1) cell lines. In the FT-IR test, the presence of many antioxidant compounds with related bonds caused the excellent condition for reducing of gold in the gold nanoparticles. In UV-Vis, the clear peak in the wavelength of 527 nm indicated the formation of gold nanoparticles. Also, in the FE-SEM and TEM images, the gold nanoparticles were spherical with an average size of 19-24 nm. The gold nanoparticles inhibited half of the DPPH molecules in the concentration of 196 mu g/mL. The IC50 of the gold nanoparticles was 226, 213, 267, and 294 mu g/mL against KYSE-270, OE33, ESO26, and FLO-1 cell lines, respectively. As mentioned, the gold nanoparticles had significant anti-esophageal cancer effects against the above cancers especially human Caucasian esophageal carcinoma. After approving the above results in the clinical trial studies, these gold nanoparticles can be used as a chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of several types of esophageal cancer such as human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, human Caucasian esophageal carcinoma, adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction, and distal esophageal adenocarcinoma.