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. 2022 May 13;194(9):4187–4219. doi: 10.1007/s12010-022-03963-z

Table 1.

Antitumor effects of AgNPs

S.No. Types of Silver nanoparticles Used Model used Outcome References
1. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Ganoderma neo-japonicum Imazeki Breast cancer cell lines AgNP increased the production of hydroxyl radical and reactive oxygen species by inhibiting the cell viability. They play a prime role in apoptosis by activation of caspase 9 and DNA nuclear fragmentation. Gurunathan et al., [116]
2. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Escherichia fergusoni Breast cancer MCF 7 cell lines Cytotoxicity effects of bio synthesized AgNP reduced the activation of LDH, increases the ROS production and results in apoptosis. Gurunathan et al., [117]
3. Green synthesis of AgNPs using sucrose Malignant skin melanoma (HT144 cell line) and squamous cell lung carcinoma (H157 cell line) Observed a prominent antitumor activity against vincristine and methotrexate. Nazir et al.,[118]
4. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Taraxacum officinale Liver hepatocellular carcinoma in HepG2 cell line Possess an enhanced activity against the commercial AgNP and in increased cytotoxic effects against HepG2 cell line Saratale et al.,[119]
5. Chemical biosynthesis of AgNPs using phycocyanin extracted from Nostoc linckia as reducing agent Human breast adenocarcinoma Observed a significant cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cell line with the inhibitory concentration (IC50) of about 27.79±2.3 μg/ml Naggar et al.,[120]
6. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Sargassum vulgare Human myeloblastic leukaemia in HL60 and HeLa cells Prevents carcinogenesis related with irradiation by inhibiting lipid peroxidation – mediated reactive oxygen species generation which leads to apoptosis. Govindaraju et al., [121]
7. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Piper longum leaf Hep 2 cell line Observed effective cytotoxic effect of 94.02% at 500 μg/ml due to formation of ROS. Jacob et al., [122]
8. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Inonotus obliquus extract Human lung cancer in A549 cell line and breast cancer in MCF -7 cell line. Cell lines shows significant cytotoxic effects. Nagajyothi et al., [123]
9. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Commelina nudiflora HCT-116 Colon cancer cell line. AgNP showed less toxicity when compared with AuNP and inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 100 μg/ml. Kuppusamy et al., [124]
10. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Melia dubia leaf Human breast cancer cell line (KB) The inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 31.2 μg/ml. Kathiravan et al., [125]
11. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Dimocarpus longan Lour H1299 lung cancer cell line. Possess inhibitory effect with (IC50) value of 5.33±0.37 μg/ml and suppress the growth of H1299 tumours in SCID mice. He et al., [126]
12. Cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplantium II) bound bio AgNPs using Penicillium, Fusarium and Aspergillus. Prostate cancer cell line (PC -3). Decreases the toxic effects and increases the efficacy against human prostate cancer El-Sheikh et al., [127]
13. Green synthesis of AgNPs using root extract of Erythrina indica Breast and lung cancer cell line (MCF-7 and HEP G2). Viability of the cells decreased with increase in concentration of AgNP. At 25μg/ml, the viability percentage is 23.89±0.39 for MCF-7 cell line and 13.86±0.95 for HEP G2 cell line. This root mediated synthesis plays a role in cancer chemotherapy and chemoprevention. Sre et al., [128]
14. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Acalypha indica leaves extract. Human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells Four different concentrations were used, such as, 1, 10, 50, 100 µg/ml, in which 100 µg/ml AgNP exposed toxicity to some extent. Krishnaraj.C et al., [129]
15. Green synthesis of AgNPs using leaf extract of mistletoe Dendrophthoe falcata (L.f) Ettingsh Human breast carcinoma (MCF-7 cells) At merest dosage of 5 μg/ml, of fabricated AgNP they observed the enhanced cytotoxic effect. This concentration is the IC50 value. Sathishkumar et al., [130]
16. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Datura inoxia leaves. Human breast cancer (MCF-7 cell line) The inhibitory concentration at 50% (IC50) was 20 μg/ml. It also seizes the cell cycle phase, suppresses the growth, finally induces apoptosis and exhibits the antiproliferative activity against MCF -7 cell line. Gajendran et al., [131]
17. Green Synthesis of AgNPs using Clinacanthus Nutans leaves extract. Oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line (HSC-4) Observed a prominent cytotoxic effect at the concentration of 1.61 ±0.14 μg/ml by repressing the release of Bcl-2 protein. Yakop et al., [132]
18. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Pimpinella anisum seeds Human neonatal skin stromal cells (hSSCs) and colon cancer cells (HT115) Observed lower cytotoxicity for bio-synthesized AgNP of about 51.39% in comparison with chemically synthesized one that showed 85.45%. And it is useful in pharmacological applications for producing nanodrugs. AlSalhi et al., [133]
19. Biosynthesized AgNPs using aqueous fruit extract of Chaenomeles sinensis (CS) Human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) At concentration of 0.01 μg/ml, the viability percentage of cells was remarkably reduced. Keun Hyun Oh et al., [134]
20. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Saccharomyces boulardii Human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) IC50 of bio-synthesized AgNP was about less than 10 μg/ml. This indicated that AgNP with low concentration exhibited almost 80% of inhibition of the cancer cells. They observed no significant changes in the higher concentration (10-100 μg/ml) Kaler et al., [135]
21. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Indigofera tinctoria leaf extract Lung cancer cell line (A549) IC50 value of AgNP-tinctoria was71.92 ±0.76 μg/ml. This is because of the NPs induced ROS. Vijayan et al., [136]
22. PVP coated AgNPs Human lung cancer cell line (Alveolar cell line A549)

1. Ag+ with 0-10 μg/ml and AgNP with 0-20 μg/ml concentration exhibited similar toxic effects and a decrease in mitochondrial function.

2. Study showed that oxidative stress was induced by both AgNP and Ag+ by correlating with geno and cytotoxicity.

Foldbjerg et al., [137]
23. Green synthesis of AgNPs using aqueous extract of Phyllanthus emblica (PE) fruit. Laryngeal carcinoma cells (Hep2 cell line) Observed a potent cytotoxic effect, the IC50 value of PE alone was 30 μg/ml and PE-AgNP was 20 μg/ml. Rosarin et al., [138]
24. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Padina tetrastromatica seaweed extract Human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) With increased concentration, the percentage of inhibition increased. The bio-AgNP showed a value of IC50 as 86.7 μg/ml and AgNP value was 200 μg/ml. The observed cytotoxicity effect of AgNP was because of caspase 3 mediated apoptosis. Selvi et al., [139]
25. Green synthesis of AgNPs using leaves of Vitex negundo Human colon cancer (HCT15 cell line) Proliferation of HCT-15 was inhibited with a concentration of 20 μg/ml (IC50) at 48h incubation. They exhibited a antiproliferative effect by seizing the G0/G1- phase and induced programmed apoptosis. Prabhu et al., [140]
26. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Artemisia turcomanica leaf extract Gastric cancer (AGS cell line) The IC50 value of bio-synthesized AgNP was 4.88 μg/ml and commercial AgNP showed a value of 6.37 μg/ml. This study inferred that least concentration of bio-AgNP was sufficient to inhibit the cell growth when compared with commercial AgNP. Mousavi et al., [141]
27. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Bacillus licheniformis in tumour bearing mice. Dalton’s lymphoma ascites (DLA cell line) Observed a prominent decrease in tumour volume from 7.3ml to 2.6ml in the group of mice treated with AgNP with the concentration of 500 μg/ml in about 15 days. Sriram et al., [142]
28. Chemical synthesis of AgNPs. Glioma (U251 glioblastoma cells) AgNP exhibited better inhibition over U251 glioma cells in comparison to AuNP. The IC50 of AgNP was 75.9 μg/ml. Liu et al., [143]
29. Metal silver and PVP coated AgNPs on tumor bearing mice Lymphoma 70% and 60% of mice survived at the day 35 with the metal silver and PVP AgNP administered at day 0. Lara-Gonzalez et al., [144]
30. Poly vinyl pyrrolidone -coated nano silver (PVP-AgNP) and bare nano silver (AgNP) Human hepatoma cell line (HepG2 cell line) and mice.

1. AgNP caused more DNA damage to HepG2 cells than PVP-AgNP, whereas PVP-AgNP possessed more chromosomal aberration in comparison to AgNP.

2. At the highest dose of 250 mg/mL, they observed no inhibitory effects in the bone marrow cells of mice.

Wang et al., [145]
31. Green synthesis of AgNPs using curcumin derivative (ST06) Cervical cancer in HeLa cell line and EAC (Ehrlich Ascites carcinoma) tumour bearing mice.

1. At a concentration of 1 μg/ml of ST06 and 1 μg/ml of ST06-AgNP, 50% of the cells were killed in a HeLa cell line.

2. Inferred that at the concentration of 5 μg/ml (ST06-AgNP) intraperitoneally inhibited the tumour growth in a tumour bearing mice which did not affect the body weight.

Murugesan et al., [146]
32. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Spinacia oleracea leaves. Myoblast cancer (mouse C2 C12 cell and in zebra fish)

1. AgNP showed 100% inhibition of growth at low concentration of about 20 μg/ml and AgNP, at a concentration of 100 μg/ml exhibited 20% viability of cells, whereas the plant extract did not possess any significant cytotoxic effects against C2 C12 cell.

2. In zebrafish embryo, AgNP was more toxic and exhibited 100% mortality at concentration of 3 μg/ml and AuNP showed the 100% mortality only at higher concentration of 300 mg/ml. Moreover, plant extract did not cause any mortality.

Ramachandran et al., [147]
33. Green synthesis of AgNPs using poisonous plant Cleistanthus collinus extract. Lung cancer cell line (A549 cell line) and mice.

1. Poisonous plant at a finite dosage was used as an anticancer agent. The inhibitory concentration (IC50) was found to be 30 μg/ml.

2. In vivo histopathological findings in mice treated with bio-synthesized AgNP did not show any edema or inflammation in the organs. Thus, it could be used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Kanipandian et al., [148]
34. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Teucrium polium leaf extract Human gastric cancer (MNK45 cell line) The IC50 value of T. polium-AgNP is 68.2 μg/ml after 48h exposure. Hashemi et al., [149]
35. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Albizia adianthifolia leaf extract. Lung cancer (A549 cell line) Observed significant cytotoxic effect and the cell viability percentage was 79% and 27% in the concentration of 10 μg/ml and 50 μg/ml, respectively. Gengen et al.,[150]
36. Green synthesis of AgNPs using aqueous extract of Punica granatum Lung cancer (A549 cell line) Possessed cytotoxic effect to cancer cells but not to the normal cells. Potent cytotoxicity i.e.,50% growth inhibition was observed after 48h at a concentration of 5 μg/ml. Annu et al., [151]
37. Green synthesis of AgNPs using walnut fruits (Juglans regia) Breast cancer (MCF-7) Observed a significant cytotoxic effect at the concentration of 60 μg/ml as 70% and 42% for AgNP and extract, respectively. Khorrami et al,[152]
38. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Aspergillus niger Human colon cancer (HT29 cell line) Highest cell viability percentage was at 10 μg/ml and lowest at 160 μg/ml with exposure time of 24-72h by exhibiting ROS mediated apoptosis. Chengzheng et al., [153]
39. Green synthesis of AgNPs using alcoholic extract of Argemone Mexicana leaves. Cervical cancer (SiHa human cervical cancer cell line) Observed a decrease in percentage of cell viability (70-80%) with the concentration of 100μg/ml. Jha et al., [154]
40. Green synthesis of AgNPs using Pseudomonas aeruginosa Thyroid cancer (TCL1 cell line) IC50 value was observed as 48.5 μg/ml by increasing the lipid peroxidation, decreasing the mitochondrial membrane potential, reducing antioxidants and finally cell condensation took place. Yang et al., [155]
41. Green synthesis of AgNPs using the extract of red sea weed Pterocladiella capillacea Human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2 cell line) Infers that the level of cytotoxicity increased with higher concentration. Untreated cells were used as negative control. The 50% of cell inhibition (IC50) occurred at 3.7 μg/ml of concentration. El Kassas et al.,[156]