Synthesis of Silver Nano Particles Using Myricetin and the In-Vitro Assessment of Anti-Colorectal Cancer Activity: In-Silico Integration

Abstract

The creation of novel anticancer treatments for a variety of human illnesses, including different malignancies and dangerous microbes, also potentially depends on nanoparticles including silver. Recently, it has been successful to biologically synthesize metal nanoparticles using plant extracts. The natural flavonoid 3,3', 4', 5,5', and 7 hexahydroxyflavon (myricetin) has anticancer properties. There is not much known about the regulatory effects of myricetin on the possible cell fate-determination mechanisms (such as apoptosis/proliferation) in colorectal cancer. Because the majority of investigations related to the anticancer activity of myricetin have dominantly focused on the enhancement of tumor cell uncontrolled growth (i.e., apoptosis). Thus, we have decided to explore the potential myricetin interactors and the associated biological functions by using an in-silico approach. Then, we focused on the main goal of the work which involved the synthesis of silver nanoparticles and the labeling of myricetin with it. The synthesized silver nanoparticles were examined using UV-visible spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. In this study, we have investigated the effects of myricetin on colorectal cancer where numerous techniques were used to show myricetin's effect on colon cancer cells. Transmission Electron Microscopy was employed to monitor morphological changes. Furthermore, we have combined the results of the colorectal cancer gene expression dataset with those of the myricetin interactors and pathways. Based on the results, we conclude that myricetin is able to efficiently kill human colorectal cancer cell lines. Since, it shares important biological roles and possible route components and this myricetin may be a promising herbal treatment for colorectal cancer as per an in-silico analysis of the TCGA dataset.

Keywords: colorectal cancer; in-silico; in-vitro; myricetin; network-level understanding; silver nanoparticles.

Figure 1

(a) Workflow, (b) myricetin interactors, and (c) the panther classes of the interactors.

Figure 2

UV-vis spectra of Myricetin and the AgNPs.

Figure 3

(a) Scanning electron microscope (SEM) of pure Myricetin, (b) SEM of Myricetin coated with NPs (AgNPs), (c,e) TEM of Myricetin—AgNPs, (d) comparative XRDs of NPs, AgNO₃, and Myricetin, and (e) particle diameter analysis for AgNPs (dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis).

Figure 4

FTIR spectra for myricetin with and without NPs.

Figure 5

MTT assay (anti-CRC activity). MTT assay was performed to investigate the (a) effect of pure myricetin, AgNPs, and mAgNPs (myricetin labeled with AgNPs) in normal cell line HEK293 and (b) the anti-CRC activity of pure myricetin, AgNPs, and mAgNPs AgNPs for CRC cell line HCT-116.

Figure 6

CRC gene expression profiling and pathway enrichment analysis. (a) Venn diagram to show the specific and shared DEGs and enriched pathways in the case of CRC with different types of samples. (b) Venn diagram to show the specific and shared DEGs and common DEGs with myricetin targets. (c) Pathway-level linkage of myricetin and the CRC. The degree of yellow color in (b) and (c) represents the less (low degree) to higher (higher degree) number of overlapping genes.