Anticancer effect of Sorafenib-loaded iron oxide nanoparticles and bee venom on some genes expression in hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective Superparamagnetic iron oxide@silver@chitosan core-shell nanoparticles could be a promising anticancer agent. This experiment was designed to compare bee venom, a natural substance that has been utilized as a traditional medicine for the treatment of cancer, to a new strategy in the recession of hepatocellular carcinoma utilizing Fe2O3@Ag@Cs nanoparticles. Methods: Group I is the negative control group, and Group II is the positive control group. The positive control group received a single intraperitoneal injection of 60 mg/kg b.wt. diethyl nitrosamine, followed by two days of carbon tetrachloride diluted with paraffin oil. Group III was given sorafenib twice a week by gavage for one month, Group IV was given Fe2O3@Ag@Cs core shell NPs, Group V was given Fe2O3@Ag@Cs core shell NPs loaded with sorafenib, and Group VI was given bee venom. Results: In comparison between the treated groups and the positive control group, biochemical data demonstrated a highly significant drop in ALT, AST, ALP, and AFP after treatment, as well as significant down-regulation in the DTL gene, while DUSP1, SOCS2, and NFKB1A exhibited up-regulation after treatment. Conclusion: Because there was a significant variation in the fold of expression in studied genes, which related to the degree of pathogenicity of hepatocellular carcinoma and gave good valuable insights about the progression of HCC and prognosis, loading sorafenib on Fe2O3@Ag@Cs core-shell NPs is superior to bee venom in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.