Abstract

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 Ångstrom (Ång) dimension. Fructose is used as a dispersant and stabilizer to coat the Ång-scale silver particles (AgÅPs). Functional and mechanistic studies demonstrate that fructose-coated AgÅPs (F-AgÅPs) 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-AgÅPs; in vivo, intravenous administration of F-AgÅPs 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-AgÅPs as a potent, safe, and broad-spectrum agent for the cancer treatment.