Zinc oxide fabricated by rutin as potent anti-leukemia nanostructure

Treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a significant therapeutic challenge, and exploration of novel treatment approaches is an urgent necessity. This work investigates the anticancer properties of rutin-conjugated zinc oxide nanoparticles (Rut-ZnO NPs) against CML cells. Physicochemical properties of the NPs were studied by FT-IR, FE-SEM, XRD, zeta potential, and DLS analyses. The MTT, flow cytometry, and quantitative PCR assays were utilized to evaluate cell viability, apoptosis, and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, respectively. The ZnO-Rut NPs were amorphous with an average size of 59.50 nm, and hydrodynamic size and zeta potential were 161.7nm and -34.3 mV, respectively. The ZnO-Rut NPs showed good cytocompatibility as the viability of peripheral blood mononuclear cells remained above 85% at concentrations up to 100 μg/mL. ZnO-Rut NPs reduced the viability of K562 cells from 92 to 31% at exposure concentrations from 3.125 to 400 μg/mL. The IC₅₀ values for rutin, ZnO NPs, and ZnO-Rutin NPs against K562 cells were 501.8, 386.3, and 175.9 μg/mL, respectively. Following the exposure to ZnO-Rutin NPs, the percentage of early apoptosis increased slightly from 10.5% to 14.1%, and a significant increase (from 11% to 50.9%) in late apoptosis was observed. The mRNA level of the Bax elevated to 1.98 folds, and the Bcl-2 gene was downregulated to 0.33 folds, underscoring the mechanism by which ZnO-Rutin NPs promote apoptosis. This study highlights the efficient anticancer potential of ZnO-Rutin NPs against CML cells, providing the basis for further investigations into their clinical applicability and underlying mechanisms of action.