Angstrom-Scale Silver Particles as a Promising Agent for Low-Toxicity Broad-Spectrum Potent Anticancer Therapy

Cancer incidence is rising, and the efficacy of current available anticancer agents is limited by severe dose-limiting toxicities and drug resistance problems. Nanoparticles are heralded as the next frontier in cancer treatment. Here, a pure physical method is used to efficiently fabricate very small silver particles even approaching the Angstrom (Ang) dimension. Fructose is used as a dispersant and stabilizer to coat the Ang-scale silver particles (AgAPs). Functional and mechanistic studies demonstrate that fructose-coated AgAPs (F-AgAPs) can enter and accumulate in multiple cultured cancer cell lines to induce apoptotic death, whereas most normal cells are resistant to the efficacious dose of F-AgAPs; in vivo, intravenous administration of F-AgAPs potently inhibits the growth of pancreatic and lung cancer xenografts in nude mice, without inducing notable toxic effects on the healthy tissues. The results suggest the promising potential of F-AgAPs as a potent, safe, and broad-spectrum agent for the cancer treatment.