Chapter 11 - Functionalized bioengineered metal-based nanomaterials for cancer therapy

Abstract

There are different approaches to cancer therapy involving radiotherapy, surgery, and drug-based therapeutics (e.g., chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and targeted anticancer drugs). Due to the high costs and side effects of some of the mentioned techniques, there is an exceeding need to explore innovative alternatives for cancer therapy. Recently, bioengineered metal-based nanoparticles (MNPs) have attracted significant attention due to their unique physicochemical and biological properties. The biogenic MNPs represented considerable anticancer activities against different cancerous cell lines. The bioengineering process for the synthesis of MNPs is simple, cost-effective, and eco-friendly. In this chapter, we reviewed the recent advantages of the antineoplastic performance of bioengineered MNPs. Our findings represented the significant preliminary anticancer potential of biogenic MNPs through in vitro models. However, further in vivo studies should be performed to confirm the anticancer potential of bioengineered MNPs in animal models. Moreover, our findings showed that different characteristics of MNPs such as size distribution, surface chemistry, morphology, etc. can change the anticancer performance of bioengineered MNPs.