In this study, we synthesized tungsten oxide (WO3) nanoplates, both crystallographic phases and the morphology of the samples were determined by powder x-ray diffraction and the scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The obtained data clarified that, the all prepared WO3·H2O samples were composed of large quantity of nanoplates. The cytotoxicity patterns of nanoplates were checked on both normal and cancer mammalian cell lines. Both nanoplates cytotoxicity did not exceed the 50 % inhibitory concentration (IC50) on the all normal tested cells even by using concentrations up to 1 mg/ml. In addition, orthorhombic tungsten oxide nanoplate was more potent against both Caco2 and Hela cells by showing inhibition percentages in cellular viability 64.749 and 72.27, respectively, and with cancer selectivity index reached 3.2 and 2.6 on both colon and cervix cancer, respectively. The anticancer effects of nanoplates were translated to alteration in both pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic genes expressions. Tungsten oxide nanoplates down regulated the expression of B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and metalloproteinase-7 (MMP7) genes. In addition, orthorhombic tungsten oxide nanoplates showed more potentiation in IL2 and IL8 induction (40.43 pg/ml) and upregulation of TNF-α gene expression but with lower folds than Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induction.
Keywords: Anticancer; Cytokines; Cytotoxicity; IL8; TNF-α; Tungsten oxide nanoplates.