Background: Drug delivery systems have been designed to achieve targeted delivery and control the release rate of the drugs. A serious challenge associated with drug delivery systems is the presence of the blood-brain barrier which limits drugs penetration. In the current study, the effects of cisplatin nanoparticles on A172 brain cancer cell line were investigated. Methods: Cisplatin nanoparticles were produced by miniemulsion polymerization technique and their properties were evaluated. Drug release assay was performed to characterize the nanoparticles' properties. Here, we examined the effects of cisplatin nanoparticles and free form of cisplatin on A172 cancer cell line. MTT assay was performed for different concentrations of the drug. To measure the apoptosis rate in A172 cell line in the presence of cisplatin nanoparticles or its free from, Annexin V staining method was used. Results: Our results indicated that loading type of cisplatin was physical loading and only 4.7% of cisplatin was released after 68 h. Furthermore, MTT assay showed that cisplatin nanoparticles in all concentrations had more cytotoxic effects on the cells comparing with the free form of cisplatin and control groups. We also showed that cisplatin nanoparticles could increase apoptosis in cancer cells more than the drug in the free form by using flow cytometry technique. Conclusion: Overall, these findings proved that cisplatin loaded on poly (Butylcyanoacrylate) nanoparticles, was more efficient than the free form of cisplatin in treating A172 cancer cell line.

Introduction: Efforts are made to identify the new potential components such as anticancer drugs. Medicinal plants belonging to Euphorbia genus are widely studied with promising effects. The current study aimed at investigating the effect of ethanolic extract of the root of E. tehranica, grown in Iran, on Caco-2 human colorectal cancer cell-line. Methods: The Caco-2 cells were treated with different concentrations of the root of E. tehranica ethanolic extract (25 to 1200 μg/mL) at 24 and 48 hours. Cell growth was evaluated with MTT assay. Anticancer activity of the ethanolic extract was assessed by evaluating the cell viability. Cell viability was determined at the wavelength of 570 nm by MTT method. The IC 50 (half maximal inhibitory concentration) was determined graphically. One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post-test; and P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The findings showed the significant cytotoxic effect of the root of E. tehranica ethanolic extract against Caco-2 cell-lines (P ≤0.05). Therefore, the viability of Caco-2 cells reduced with the dose and time-dependent manner, when compared with that of the control group. Also, the differences between the IC 50 in 24 and 48 hours were 850 and 855 µg/mL, respectively. Conclusions: It was the first study on the effect of the root of E. tehranica ethanolic extract on human colon cancer cell-lines. The results showed that this extract had the capacity to inhibit proliferation of tumor cells. Therefore, it seems to be a good candidate to defend against cancer cells.

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