Phytosynthesis of gold nanoparticles and their potential applications as anticancer agent: a review

Rapid advancement of plant-based nanotechnology, offering a cost-effective, green and sustainable approach for producing biocompatible nanomaterials such as gold nanoparticles, has gained profound interest in biomedical applications, especially in cancer therapy. This review discusses phytosynthesis principles, synthesized nanoparticle characterization, and their reported effectiveness against cancer cells, providing sustainable therapeutic alternatives. Plant extracts provide reducing and stabilizing agents that impact the size, shape and surface properties of nanoparticles, which in turn influence the therapeutic abilities of these nanoparticles. Characterization techniques, including UV-Vis spectroscopy, TEM and SEM-EDX, XRD, FTIR, DLS and zeta potential, confirm the structural, functional and stability potentials of nanoparticles in biomedical applications. Reported in vitro and in vivo studies highlight anticancer mechanisms of photosynthesized gold nanoparticles, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, apoptosis induction, anti-angiogenesis, and selective cytotoxicity, showing enhanced therapeutic efficiency and minimal systemic toxicity. Phytosynthesized gold nanoparticles not only offer immense potential as biocompatible anticancer agents, but also find applications in diagnostics, biosensing and targeted drug delivery systems. However, challenges such as reproducibility, scalability, pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and process regulations still remain limitations hindering their clinical translation. Addressing these challenges through standardized protocols and regulations, scalable reactors, pharmacokinetic studies, toxicological assessments, and integration of machine learning, allowing for more precise mechanistic insights, will be pivotal for advancing their therapeutic and industrial applications.