Facile preparation of Kaolin supported silver nanoparticles mediated by Thymbra spicata extract and investigation of the anti-human lung cancer properties

The present work demonstrates the synthesis of kaolin supported Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs@Kaolin) by using an aqueous extract of Thymbra spicata as a green reductant and capping agent. Physicochemical characteristics of the synthesized nanocomposite were studied byfield emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), elemental mapping, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) techniques. The biogenic AgNPs are uniformly globular. Owing to the surface modification by the plant derived phytochemicals, the NPs are found to be distributed evenly on the kaolin surface. The AgNPs@Kaolin nanocomposite has been explored biologically in the anticancer and antioxidant assays. In the cellular and molecular part of the recent study, the treated cells with AgNPs@Kaolin nanocomposite were assessed by MTT assay for 48 h about the cytotoxicity and anti-human lung adenocarcinoma properties on normal (HUVEC) and lung adenocarcinoma cell lines i.e. lung well-differentiated bronchogenic adenocarcinoma (HLC-1), lung moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (LC-2/ad), and lung poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (PC-14). The viability of malignant lung cell line reduced dose-dependently in the presence of AgNPs@Kaolin nanocomposite. The IC50 of AgNPs@Kaolin nanocomposite were 509, 315, and 189 µg/mL against HLC-1, LC-2/ad, and PC-14 cell lines, respectively. In the antioxidant test, the IC50 of AgNPs@Kaolin nanocomposite and BHT against DPPH free radicals were 125 and 161 µg/mL, respectively. After the clinical study, AgNPs@Kaolin nanocomposite containing T. spicata leaf aqueous extract may be used to formulate a new chemotherapeutic drug or supplement to treat the several types of human lung adenocarcinoma.