Investigating the Anticancer Properties of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Conjugated with Thiosemicarbazide on Gastric Cancer Cells and Evaluation the Expression Level of CASP8 and HULC Genes

Introduction: Nanotechnology The invention has significantly enhanced the treatment of stomach cancer. Thiosemicarbazones, a novel class of medicines that can be complexed with nanoparticles. Thus, the aim of this study was to synthesize zinc oxide nanoparticles functionalized with glutamine and conjugated with thiosmecarbazone and their cytotoxicity and their effect on the expression of CASP8 and HULC Lnc-RNA genes. Materials & Methods: In this experimental study, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were first synthesized and functionalized with glutamine (ZnO@Gln) and conjugated with thiosimicarbazide (ZnO@Gln-TSC). FTIR, XRD, DLS, SEM, TEM analyses were performed to investigate the synthesis of nanoparticles. The cytotoxicity of nanoparticles on AGS cells was investigated by MTT test under different concentrations. The expression level of CASP8 and HULC genes under the influence of IC50 concentration of nanoparticles were investigated by the real-time PCR method. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS Version 16, using ANOVA and T-tests, with a P-value threshold of less than 0.05 deemed significant. Results: FT-IR and XRD tests confirmed what the particles were made of, and the nanoparticles were found to be between 30 and 70 nm in size. DLS showed the size of nanoparticles to be 296 nm. The MTT test showed that the IC50 value of nanoparticles was 10 µg/mL. Nanoparticles turned AGS cells into a test group where the CASP8 gene went up by 6.79 and the HULC gene went down by 0.65 compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Nanoparticles of ZnO@Gln-TSC had an effect on AGS cancer cells by increasing the amount of CASP8 and decreasing the expression of the HULC gene. This stopped cell growth and caused apoptosis, which could be further studied as a drug for treating cancer.