Stevioside and rebaudioside A revealed anticancer effects against diversity of cancers, such as colon, breast and
liver cancers. Rebaudioside A can trigger apoptosis in cancer cells via activation of caspase-dependent pathway.
In this study, sodium alginate/poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) as nano-carriers loaded with natural products rebaudioside A (R) and/or stevioside (S) were assessed for anticancer activities. The nanogel of structure R improved
cytotoxicity against MCF-7, HepG2, HCT116 and A549 cancers by 60.29 %, 53.45 %, 72.86% and 62.13%,
correspondingly. Additionally, the nanogel of structure S improved cytotoxicity against MCF-7, HepG2, HCT116
and A549 cancers by 63.96%, 53.41%, 70.59% and 52.88%, respectively. Furthermore, the nanogel for
mixture of R/S improved cytotoxicity against MCF-7, HepG2, HCT116 and A549 cancers by 78.86%, 54.75%,
74.10 % and 56.53%, correspondingly. Also, cytotoxic activities of structures R, S and R/S and their nanogels
exhibited low toxicity on VERO cells with IC50 = 30.90–46.50 μM and high selectivity against cancer cells.
Moreover, R/S (nanogel), R (nanogel) and S (nanogel) demonstrated the uppermost binding affinities with DNA
at reduced IC50 values of 31.50, 32.60, and 33.90 μM, respectively. In addition, they inhibited Topo-II activity
with remarkably low IC50 values of 0.95, 1.00, and 1.10 μM, respectively.