{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T12:53:38Z","timestamp":1792760018593,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,15]],"date-time":"2025-10-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1760486400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004054","name":"King Abdulaziz University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004054","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Cancers (e.g., colon and skin cancers) are significant causes of mortality. We developed novel anticancer nanocomposites comprising natural bioactive compounds and metal nanoparticles, involving conjugation of beta-sitosterol (BSt) and fucoidan (Fu), for biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), before conjugation with chitosan (CS), to generate potential innovative anticancerous nanocomposites.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>The fabricated Fu\/BSt\/AgNPs\/CS nanocomposites were characterized for efficacy against colon cancer (HCT-116) and skin cancer (A375) cells. Electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), FTIR infrared spectroscopy, DLS analysis and UV-Vis spectroscopy, confirmed the synthesis and interactions within nanocomposites. The MTT assay and dual staining validated the potential nanocomposites\u2019 actions as anticancerous materials, compared to \u201ccisplatin\u201d.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results and discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>AgNPs had a mean diameter of 8.83 nm, whereas Fu\/BSt\/AgNPs\/CS had 146.6 nm size. MTT assay revealed that IC<jats:sub>50<\/jats:sub> of Fu\/BSt\/AgNPs and Fu\/BSt\/AgNPs\/CS nanocomposites were 16.23, 12.75 mg\/L against HCT-116 cells, and 34.81, 22.44 mg\/L against A375 cells, respectively, which significantly exceeded the cisplatin IC<jats:sub>50<\/jats:sub> (25.56 and 79.77, respectively). The cancer cells\u2019 treatment with nanocomposites revealed significant apoptosis induction and cell growth inhibition. Ultra-structural imaging confirmed the nanocomposites\u2019 ability to trigger cancer cells to undergo morphological alterations, destructions and collapse. Invented Fu\/BSt\/AgNPs\/CS nanocomposites have great promises as safe and effective treatments for colon and skin cancers, generated from natural compounds.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fbioe.2025.1668888","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,15]],"date-time":"2025-10-15T05:42:59Z","timestamp":1760506979000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Construction of bioactive nanocomposites from beta-sitosterol, fucoidan, chitosan, and silver nanoparticles for anticancer applications"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Ahmed A.","family":"Tayel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fatma K.","family":"Elagezy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Asmaa","family":"Abdella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hend A.","family":"Gad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohamed E.","family":"El-Hefnawy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sultan","family":"Alhayyani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shaymaa W.","family":"El-Far","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1155\/2020\/2785304","article-title":"Effectual anticancer potentiality of loaded bee venom onto fungal chitosan nanoparticles","volume":"2020","author":"Alalawy","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. 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