ZnO nanorod-induced apoptosis in human alveolar adenocarcinoma cells via p53, survivin and bax/bcl-2 pathways: role of oxidative stress

This paper mainly describes the possible mechanisms of apoptosis induced by ZnO nanorods in human lung alveolar adenocarcinoma (A549) cells. Results showed that ZnO nanorods altered the expressions of different proteins involved in cellular apoptosis. ZnO nanorods induced the expression of heat shock protein 70, the first tier biomarker of cellular damage and cell cycle checkpoint protein p53. Further, the expression level of anti-apoptotic protein survivin was down-regulated while the expression of bax/bcl-2 protein ratio, an indicator of apoptosis was up-regulated by ZnO nanorods. Overall, this study highlights that ZnO nanorod-induce apoptosis in A549 cells via p53, survivin and bax/bcl-2 pathways.218