Effective induction of death in breast cancer cells with magnetite NiCo2O4/NiO nanocomposite

Abstract With the objective of finding an avenue for development of magnetic nanomaterials which were incorporated into cells for induction of cell death in human cancerous cell lines, an environmental friendly synthesis method was investigated. The present work aimed to synthesis magnetic NiCo 2 O 4 /NiO nanoparticles by a novel, simple, environmental friendly and cost effective method in the presence of Dactylopius Coccus. The ultra-fine NiCo 2 O 4 /NiO ceramic nanocomposites (NNC) were characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) as well as vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) used to study the magnetic properties of NNC nanoparticles. MTT cytotoxicity assay performed to determine the anti-proliferative effect of NNC nanoparticles against 4T1 breast cancer cell lines. The results demonstrated that the NNC nanoparticles meaningfully reduced the survival percentage of the 4T1 cells of the murine invasive breast cancer with an IC 50 was of 4 mg/ml. The dominant mechanism of cell death was apoptosis, along with an increase in cellular oxidative stress. Consequently, based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that NiCo 2 O 4 /NiO nanoparticles can potentially be used as a chemotherapeutic agent against invasive breast cancer cells.