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Background & objectives: Breast cancer is one of the most important causes of cancer deaths especially in developing countries. However, some synthetic compounds such as thiosemicarbazone and its metal derivatives can play a very significant role in reducing the death rate from cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate alterations in the expression of BRCA1, p53 and Bcl-2 genes in breast cancer cell line.
Methods: In this study, the effect of pyrazole derivative of thiosemicarbazone (T) as well as T-bound iron oxide magnetite nanoparticles (T/ Fe₃o₄ np) were investigated on expression changes of Bcl-2, BRCA1 and p53 in MCF-7 cells. For this purpose, the toxicity of the compounds was first measured using the MTT reaction for 24 hr. Then, the mRNA expression levels were evaluated using real-time PCR reaction.
Results: The results showed a high toxicity for the nano-pyrazole derivative of thiosemicarbazone magnetite so that; the fatality rate for treated thiosemicarbazone magnetite derivative cells was much higher than the compound without any nanoparticle. Also, real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis of gene expression indicated a high effect of the derivative on increasing the expression levels of BRCA1 and p53 genes and also decreasing the Bcl-2 gene expression of Bcl-2.
Conclusion: The use of anticancer compounds like thiosemicarbazone which bound to iron oxide nanoparticles would increase the toxicity of the anticancer compounds along with enhancment of delivery of them with high solubility to target tissue.