Determination of half maximal inhibitory concentration of CaAl layered double hydroxide on cancer cells and its role in the apoptotic pathway

Abstract In continuation of our previous work, which proposed a new direction of application of the bare, phase pure CaAl LDH as an active anticancer agent, the efficacy of the system was assessed by determination of half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of the same on human colon cancer (HCT 116) cell line and human breast cancer (MCF 7) cell line. This was in turn established by tracing the involvement of Ca2+ ion with the CAMKIIα protein- a key player in the Ca2+/Calmodulin pathway which remains overexpressed in human colon cancer cell. CAMKIIα regulates the reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by decreasing the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme and hence SOD activity was also evaluated in our study. The results exhibit significant involvement of the bare, phase pure CaAl LDH at cellular level to down regulate CAMKIIα and SOD gene and its active involvement in apoptosis could also be traced.