Gold nanoparticles combined baker's yeast as a successful approach for breast cancer treatment

Amany Elwakkad; Amina A Gamal El Din; Hisham A Saleh; Noha E Ibrahim; Mohamed A Hebishy; Hagar H Mourad; Mahitab I El-Kassaby; Howida Sayed Abou-Seif; Ghada M Elqattan

doi:10.1186/s43141-023-00481-1

Gold nanoparticles combined baker's yeast as a successful approach for breast cancer treatment

J Genet Eng Biotechnol. 2023 Mar 6;21(1):27. doi: 10.1186/s43141-023-00481-1.

Authors

Amany Elwakkad¹, Amina A Gamal El Din², Hisham A Saleh³, Noha E Ibrahim⁴, Mohamed A Hebishy¹, Hagar H Mourad¹, Mahitab I El-Kassaby¹, Howida Sayed Abou-Seif¹, Ghada M Elqattan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Medical Physiology Department, Medical Research and Clinical Studies Institute, National Research Centre, 33 El-Bohouth St. (El-Tahrir St. Former), Giza, 12622, Dokki, Egypt.
² Pathology Department, Medical Research and Clinical Studies Institute, National Research Centre, 33 El-Bohouth St. (El-Tahrir St. Former), Giza, 12622, Dokki, Egypt.
³ Electron Microscope and Thin Films Department, Physics Research Institute, National Research Centre, 33 El-Bohouth St. (El-Tahrir St. Former), Giza, 12622, Dokki, Egypt.
⁴ Microbial Biotechnology Department, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Centre, 33 El-Bohouth St. (El-Tahrir St. Former), Giza, 12622, Dokki, Egypt.
⁵ Medical Physiology Department, Medical Research and Clinical Studies Institute, National Research Centre, 33 El-Bohouth St. (El-Tahrir St. Former), Giza, 12622, Dokki, Egypt. gm.el-qattan@nrc.sci.eg.

Abstract

Background: Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) has been demonstrated in vitro to sensitize several breast cancer cell lines and to be a safe, non-toxic drug with anti-skin cancer action in mice. Furthermore, plasmonic photothermal treatment using gold nanorods has been authorized as a novel method for in vitro and in vivo cancer therapy.

Results: When compared to tumor-free rats, the treatment with S. cerevisiae conjugated to gold nanospheres (GNSs) lowered Bcl-2 levels while increasing FasL, Bax, cytochrome c, and caspases 8, 9, and 3 levels. Histopathological results showed changes reflecting the ability of nanogold conjugated heat-killed yeast to induce apoptosis is greater than heat-killed yeast alone as the nanogold conjugated with heat-killed yeast showed no tumor, no hyperplasia, no granulation tissue formation, no ulceration, and no suppuration. Nanogold conjugated with heat-killed yeast-treated breast cancer group displayed normal levels of ALT and AST, indicating relatively healthy hepatic cells.

Conclusion: Our results proved that nanogold conjugated heat-killed yeast can initiate apoptosis and can be used as a safe non-invasive method for breast cancer treatment more effectively than the yeast alone. This, in turn, gives us new insight and a future hope for the first time that breast cancer can be treated by non-invasive, simple, safe, and naturally originated method and achieves a hopeful treatment and a novel method for in vivo cancer therapy.

Keywords: Apoptosis; Baker’s yeast; Breast cancer; Gold nanospheres.

Grants and funding

12060162/National Research Centre, Egypt