Anticancer Activity of Selenium Nanoparticles In Vitro Studies

Health systems worldwide consider cancer a disease that causes the highest number of deaths per year. The low efficacy of current cancer therapies has led other areas of science to search for new alternatives, including nanomaterial sciences. Selenium nanoparticles have anticancer activity, as revealed by in vitro tests performed on prostate, breast, cervical, lung, colorectal, and liver cancer cell lines. Studies attribute anticancer activity to the anti-metastatic effect due to the inhibition of migration and invasion processes. The antiproliferative effect is the low expression of molecules such as cyclin D1, cyclin E, and CDK2. In addition to the activation of cell apoptosis by caspase-dependent mechanisms, there is a low expression of anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2 and a high expression of the apoptotic proteins like Bax and Bad. Other studies attribute anticancer activity to the activation of cell necroptosis, where molecules such as TNF and IRF1 participate. The pharmacological potential of selenium nanoparticles depends primarily on the administered dose, particle size, and chemical composition. Furthermore, several studies have shown that the administration of these nanoparticles is safe due to their low toxicity in non-cancerous cells. In this review, the most relevant antecedents on the anticancer potential of selenium nanoparticles in prostate, breast, cervical, lung, liver, and colorectal cancer cell lines are discussed.