|
| Cancer type | Effect and mechanism |
|
| Colon cancer | ZnO NPs suppressed cell viability in Caco-2 cell line via increased ROS and induced IL-8 release [38] |
| ZnO NPs and fatty acids could induce lysosomal destabilization in Caco-2 cells [39] |
| ZnO NPs induced Caco-2 cells cytotoxicity associated with increased intracellular Zn ions [40] |
| ZnO NPs conjugated with peptides had a higher antiproliferation in HT-29 colon cancer cells than other Au NPs and Fe3O4 NPs [41] |
|
| Hepatocarcinoma | ZnO NPs caused ROS generation and oxidative DNA damage and lead to mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis in HepG2 cells [42] |
| ZnO NPs selectively induce apoptosis in HepG2 cells, which was also mediated by ROS via the p53 pathway [43] |
| Dox-ZnO nanocomplex can act as a drug delivery system to increase the internalization of the anticancer drug Dox in SMMC-7721 cells [44] |
|
| Breast cancer | Ecofriendly formulated ZnO NPs arrest the cell cycle in the G2/M phase and upregulated proapoptotic genes p53, p21, Bax, and JNK and downregulated antiapoptotic genes Bcl-2, AKT1, and ERK1/2 in a dose-dependent manner in MCF-7 cells [45] |
| A doxorubicin delivery system based on zinc oxide nanomaterials can bypass the P-gp increase in the drug accumulation in resistant MCF-7R and MCF-7S cells [46] |
| RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp)-targeted ZnO NPs can target integrin αvβ3 receptors to increase the toxicity of the ZnO NPs to MDA-MB-231 cells at lower doses [47] |
| ZnO-Fe3O4 magnetic composite nanoparticles site-specific have no significant toxicity towards noncancerous NIH 3T3 cells but show obvious toxicity at similar concentration to MDA-MB-231 cells [14] |
| FA-functionalized PTX-ZnO NPs released ∼75% of the paclitaxel payload within six hours in acidic pH, improved chemotherapy tolerance, and increased antitumor efficacy [48] |
|
| Lung cancer | ZnO NPs incorporated in liposomes not only rendered pH responsivity to the delivery carrier but also exhibited synergetic chemo-photodynamic anticancer action [49] |
| Human lung adenocarcinoma cells with an EGFR mutation are sensitive to ZnO NP20 and Al-ZnO NP20, which resulted in nonautophagic cell death [50] |
|
| Ovarian cancer | ZnO NPs are able to induce significant cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and autophagy in SKOV3 cells through reactive oxygen species generation and oxidative stress [51] |
|
| Cervical cancer | DOX-ZnO/PEG nanocomposites exhibited better dose-dependent toxicity towards HeLa cell lines [52] |
| ZnO nanoparticles showed a dynamic cytotoxic effect in cervical carcinoma cells which induced the apoptosis through the increased intracellular ROS level and upregulated apoptotic gene p53 and caspase-3 expression [53] |
| Gastric cancer | PMMA-AA/ZnO NPs and PMMA-PEG/ZnO were able to carry a large amount of the hydrophobic drug (curcumin) showing highly anti-gastric cancer activity [54, 55] |
|
| Human epidermal cancer | ZnO NPs induce cell death at high concentrations, and at lower concentrations, they induce cell cycle arrest in the S and G 2/M phase by intracellular ROS generation in A431 cells [56] |
|
| Acute promyelocytic leukemia | HA/ZnO nanocomposite caused G2/M cell cycle arrest and stimulated apoptosis-related increase in caspase-3 and −7 activities of the HL-60 cells [57] |
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