Investigation of anticancer activities of silver nanoparticles synthesized by Lepista nuda and Marasmius oreades mushroom extracts

In our study, green synthesis of silver nanoparticles was performed to evaluate anticancer activities by using fungi named Lepista nuda and Marasmius oreades. In this study, fungi, which are environmentally friendly, non-toxic, low cost and easy to obtain, were used as a biological synthesis tool. In the characterization of the synthesized AgNPs, UV-Vis visible region spectrophotometry, FT-IR analysis, DLS technique were used. In our study, the FT-IR analysis showed the existence of functional groups that AgNPs have, similar to the literature. The dimensional analysis of the AgNPs was performed using the DLS technique, and the stability of the nanoparticles was examined and compared with the literature. In our DLS analysis, the average size of AgNPs synthesized by Lepista nuda fungus was measured as 50.2 nm and the average size of AgNPs synthesized by Marasmus oreades fungus was measured as 54.6 nm, and it was shown that AgNPs synthesized by both mushroom extracts were monodisperse. The cytotoxic activity of AgNPs was shown in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells for 24 hours and 48 hours using the MTT viability test. In the MTT analysis, a dose-dependent decrease in the viability of MCF-7 cells was observed compared to the negative control. In the MDA-MB-231 cell line, a dose-independent decrease in cell viability was observed in the 24-hour MTT test and a dose-dependent decrease in the 48-hour MTT test. In the MDA-MB-231 cell line, a dose-independent decrease in cell viability was observed in the 24-hour MTT test and a dose-dependent decrease in the 48-hour MTT test. The expressions of Caspase-9, Bax and Bcl-2 genes were compared with the control group by qRT-PCR analysis. As a result of the analyses, it was evaluated that the loss of cell viability may be related to the observation of an increase in Bax/Bcl-2 expression, which is an indicator of apoptosis, compared to the control group.