UV Irradiation Enhanced In-Vitro Cytotoxic Effects of ZnO Nanoparticle on Human Breast Cancer

Abstract

Cancer is a disease characterized by abnormal cell growth in body tissues. Generally, cancer can be treated with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and many others. However, these treatments have side effects on healthy cells. ZnO nanoparticle is one of considerable interests in targeting pharmaceutical for the treatment of cancer by inhibiting the cell proliferation. Therefore, in this study, we investigated In vitro cytotoxic effects of ZnO nanoparticles on the growth of MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The cytotoxic test was performed using varying concentration of ZnO nanoparticles (0, 25, 50, 75, 100 μg/mL) with different times of UV irradiation (0, 90, 180, and 270 seconds). The cytotoxic effect was evaluated by measuring the absorption of formazan crystal at wavelength of 490 nm using ELISA reader and converted to determine the percentage of living cells. The surviving cancer cells are characterized by their ability to convert MTT salts into formazan crystals. The concentration of ZnO nanoparticles caused the decrease in viability of MCF-7 cells, with the lowest viability at ZnO 100 μg/ml concentration of 57.5%. UV radiation increased the toxicity effect of ZnO nanoparticles on MCF-7 cells. A combination of ZnO 100 μg/ml nanoparticles with UV radiation exposure for 180 seconds had the lowest viability of the MCF-7 cells of 13.58%.