COMPARATIVE THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF ANTIBIOTIC LOADED GOLD AND SILVER NANOCONJUGATES IN CANCER THERAPY

Background: Nanomedicine is believed to be an emerging field to improve the efficacy of conventional chemotherapy. Nanoparticles (NPs), particularly drugs conjugated nanometals, have garnered attention as distinct drug carriers in terms of improved pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties compared to traditional formulations. This study aimed to investigate the potential of silver and gold-loaded antibiotic Azithromycin in demonstrating tumour-suppressing behaviour. Methods: Cells after being treated with different working concentrations of drugs/compounds Azithromycin, Au-Azithromycin and Ag-Azithromycin. After obtaining IC50 concentrations, treatment groups were further analysed for morphological changes under an inverted phase microscope after 24 and 48 hours of treatment. Finally RT-PCR (Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) was performed to evaluate the effect of these treatment groups on the regulation of Rapidly Accelerated Fibrosarcoma-1 (Raf-1), and Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3 (MAPK3) involved in cancer proliferation. GAPDH was used as control gene which is a reference gene used in comparisons of gene expression data. Results: Compared to control, all the treatment groups showed very highly significant (p<0.001) down regulation of MAPK3 while Raf-1 exhibited highly significant (p<0.01) down regulation in all treatment groups. Conclusion: Azithromycin loaded with metallic nanoparticles such as gold and silver showed significant suppression of proliferative genes involved in the MAP kinase signalling pathway. Pak J Physiol 2024;20(4):8-12, DOI: https://doi.org/10.69656/pjp.v20i4.1641