Photodynamic therapy mediated antiproliferative activity of some metal-doped ZnO nanoparticles in human liver adenocarcinoma HepG2 cells under UV irradiation

•Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising new modality for the treatment of cancer.•In this work, ZnO-metal doped nanoparticles: Fe3+, Ag+, Pb2+, and Co2+ were prepared.•They characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM and EDX, which confirm the nano-structure.•Their anticancer effect on HepG2 cells under UV-light was studied.•Their cytotoxicity against HepG2 under UV-light is due to generation of ROS.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising new modality for the treatment of cancer through generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this work, human liver adenocarcinoma cells HepG2 were treated with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs), metal-doped-ZnO-NPs: Fe–ZnO-NPs Ag–ZnO-NPs, Pb–ZnO-NPs, and Co–ZnO-NPs, Silica-coated ZnO-NPs, titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs), titanium dioxide nano-tubes (TiO2-NTs) and ZnO-NPs/TiO2-NTs nanocomposite under UV irradiation. Doxorubicin was used as a standard drug. The results demonstrated that the ZnO-NPs, Fe–ZnO-NPs, Ag–ZnO-NPs, Pb–ZnO-NPs, and Co–ZnO-NPs showed cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells, with the median growth inhibitory concentrations (IC50) 42.60, 37.20, 45.10, 77.20 and 56.50 μg/ml, respectively, as compared to doxorubicin (IC50: 20.10 μg/ml). Treatment of the cancer cells with ZnO-NPs, Fe–ZnO-NPs, Ag–ZnO-NPs, Pb–ZnO-NPs, and Co–ZnO-NPs resulted in a significant increase in the activity of SOD and the levels of H2O2 and NO than those of control, accompanied with a significant decrease in the activity of CAT and GSH-Px. Also, depletion of reduced GSH, total protein and nucleic acids levels was observed. In conclusion, metal-doped ZnO-NPs may induce antiproliferative effect on HepG2 cells under UV-irradiation due to generation of ROS. Therefore, they could be included in modern clinical trials after in vivo more investigations, using photodynamic therapy technique.