Emerging Theranostic Silver Nanomaterials to Combat Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of one-quarter of all cancer deaths and it’s a major public health problem worldwide. Nanotechnology offers a novel strategy to combat lung cancer. Recently, biologically synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has attracted significant attention for their anticancer effects against lung cancer. Thereby, the current study was aimed to systematically review the efficacy of these nanoparticles (NPs) against lung cancer through in vitro models. The articles were collected through online databases comprising Cochrane, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, ProQuest, and Embase. Among all studies, the plant-mediated synthesis of AgNPs was the general approach. Besides, A549 lung cancer cell line was the predominant cell line that was applied for cytotoxicity assessment among all studies. Most of the AgNPs were synthesized with spherical morphology less than 100 nm. Interestingly, in almost all of the studies, AgNPs exhibited the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) against lung cancer cells. We provided preliminary evidence indicating the significant anticancer activity of biogenic AgNPs. We also discussed the proposed anticancer mechanisms. However, further studies are required to evaluate the anticancer efficacy of biogenic AgNPs through in vivo models.