Investigation of bioactive compounds in Crassocephalum rubens leaf and in vitro anticancer activity of its biosynthesized gold nanoparticles

The development of cancer therapies has become difficult due to high metastasis, and lack of tissue selectivity, which in most cases affects normal cells. Demand for anticancer therapy is therefore increasing on daily basis. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have many applications in biomedical field. Biological synthesis of AuNPs using aqueous extract of Crassocephalum rubens (AECR) was designed to investigate the in vitro anticancer potential. The synthesized AuNPs were characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The characterization results showed the formation of green AuNPs of wavelength 538 nm, and mostly spherical AuNPs with 20 ± 5 nm size. Significant anticancer activity of the AECR-AuNPs on MCF-7 and Caco-2 cells was noted at higher concentrations (125 and 250 μg/mL) during 24 and at all concentrations tested during 48 h. It can therefore be concluded that AECR leaves can mediate stable AuNPs with anticancer properties.