Lung cancer is a dangerous type of
cancer in men and the third leading cause of
cancer-related death in women, behind breast and
colorectal cancers.
Thymoquinone (THQ), a main compound in black seed
essential oils, has a variety of beneficial effects, including antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, and
antioxidant properties. On the other hand,
scorpion venom peptides (SV) induce apoptosis in the
cancer cells, making it a promising
anticancer agent. THQ, SV, and Phospholipon® 90H (PL) were incorporated in a nano-based delivery platform to assess THQ's cellular uptake and antiproliferative efficacy against a
lung cancer cell line derived from human alveolar epithelial cells (A549). Several nanovesicles were prepared and optimized using factorial experimental design. The optimized phytosome formulation contained 79.0 mg of PL and 170.0 mg of SV, with vesicle size and zeta potential of 209.9 nm and 21.1 mV, respectively. The IC50 values revealed that A549 cells were significantly more sensitive to the THQ formula than the plain formula and THQ. Cell cycle analysis revealed that THQ formula treatment resulted in significant cell cycle arrest at the S phase, increasing cell population in this phase by 22.1%. Furthermore, the THQ formula greatly increased cell apoptosis (25.17%) when compared to the untreated control (1.76%), plain formula (11.96%), or THQ alone (13.18%). The results also indicated that treatment with THQ formula significantly increased
caspase-3, Bax, Bcl-2, and p53
mRNA expression compared to plain formula and THQ. In terms of the inflammatory markers, THQ formula significantly reduced the activity of TNF-α and NF-κB in comparison with the plain formula and THQ only. Overall, the findings from the study proved that a phytosome formulation of THQ could be a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of
lung adenocarcinoma.