Nanosilver Prevents (and Beats) Skin Cancer: New Studies

by natural health author Tony M. Isaacs

According to a recent news article, skin cancer rates have been soaring worldwide since 1985, especially among men.  Deaths from skin cancer are soaring worldwide, as well.

The news article claims that more than 90 percent of melanoma — the worst form of skin cancer — are caused by skin cell damage from excessive exposure to the sun or other sources of ultraviolet (UV) radiation such as tanning beds.

It also points out that throughout the industrialized world, skin cancer rates have jumped tremendously. For example, there’s been a 70% jump in Spain and Britain…a 60% jump in the Netherlands… a 50% jump in France and Belgium…an astonishing 100% jump in Ireland and Croatia.

So the rates of skin cancer are definitely on the increase worldwide, and have been for over 30 years.

What’s more, in the U.S., more people are diagnosed with skin cancer each year than all other cancers combined. Indeed, it’s the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in the U.S.

Yikes!

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, in the U.S. alone more than 5.4 million cases of skin cancer are treated annually, with one in five Americans developing skin cancer by the age of 70. Some 8,500 Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer each day.

Indeed, in the U.S. one person dies of melanoma skin cancer every hour, with new cases increasing on average by 53% over the past decade, resulting in the deaths of some 10,000 people per year.

Can Silver Help?

Could tiny atoms of silver such as those found in nanosilver and other colloidal silver products be an important answer to the growing scourge of skin cancer?

Truth be told, there’s mounting evidence — both clinical and anecdotal — that strongly suggests the answer to that question is “Yes!” This includes a number of new clinical studies demonstrating that silver nanoparticles not only stop cancer from forming, but can potentially cure existing skin cancers, as well.

I’ll give you the lowdown on a number of those new clinical studies in this article. We’ll start first with the studies demonstrating silver to prevent skin cancer from forming, and we’ll progress to the studies demonstrating silver to either halt the progression of existing skin cancers, or even cause the skin cancer cells to die.

Yes, Silver Helps Prevent Skin Cancer

Let’s start by examining a 2015 clinical study published in the respected journal Nanomedicine, titled “Silver Nanoparticles Protect Human Keratinocytes Against UVB Radiation-Induced DNA Damage and Apoptosis: Potential For Prevention Of Skin Carcinogenesis.”

The study — an in vitro “test tube” study — was also featured on the website of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which, along with the National Cancer Institute, had funded the study with a grant. So this is not “amateur hour” stuff. This is the real deal.

According to the study authors:

Ultraviolet (UV)-B radiation from the sun is an established etiological cause of skin cancer, which afflicts more than a million lives each year in the United States alone.

Here, we tested the chemopreventive efficacy of silver-nanoparticles (AgNPs) against UVB-irradiation-induced DNA damage and apoptosis in human immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT).

In other words, the clinical researchers studied human keratinocytes — the predominant cell type in the outermost layer of the skin — by pre-treating them with silver nanoparticles and then exposing them to ultraviolet irradiation.

They did so in order to discover if there was any reduction in DNA damage to the skin cells, which is important because such damage “leads to accumulation of carcinogenic mutations leading to malignant transformation of the skin cells.”

Simply put, accumulated damage to the DNA of skin cells from ultraviolet radiation (sunshine) is a well-known cause of skin cancer. Finding a substance that arrests such DNA damage could result in dramatically lower skin cancer rates.

The researchers went on to state:

“Silver has been used for centuries to prevent and treat a variety of diseases as well as in healing of skin wounds due to its excellent free radical scavenging, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.

In 1990s, silver was introduced in a colloidal form (i.e. silver nanoparticles, AgNPs) in ointments that could be applied to open wounds to kill bacteria and promote wound healing through their powerful anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.

AgNPs are currently being used in various medical devices, consumer products and pharmaceuticals including bandages, wound dressings and ointments.

In fact, AgNPs now contribute more than a quarter to the list of the commercially available nano-based products suggesting its wide applicability and safety in human applications.”

In other words, topical use of silver on the skin has been demonstrated to be safe since the 1990’s, thanks to its widespread use in medical and consumer products. The researchers then stated:

“In the present novel work, we have explored the efficacy of AgNPs [i.e., silver nanoparticles] as chemopreventive agents against UVB radiation-induced skin carcinogenesis.

Our studies reveal that AgNPs are non-toxic to the human immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT) and protects them from UVB-induced DNA damage.”

Simply put, this means the researchers discovered that DNA damage caused by skin cell exposure to ultraviolet light can be stopped by topical application of silver nanoparticles! The researchers continue by stating:

“Our data also demonstrate that AgNPs pretreatment significantly reduces the extent of apoptosis caused by UVB radiation in HaCaT cells as well as induces G1/S phase cell-cycle arrest.”

Yes, the processes that can lead to skin cancer appear to be halted when the skin cells were pre-treated with silver nanoparticles before exposure to ultraviolet light! The researchers went on to say:

“Furthermore, our study reveals the higher internalization of AgNPs in UVB-irradiated cells and indicates the involvement of nucleotide excision repair (NER) genes in the repair of UVB-induced DNA damage.

These are promising observations and provide compelling support for potential novel human applications of AgNPs as chemopreventive agents against UVB-induced skin carcinogenesis.”

In other words, the researchers found that silver nanoparticles concentrate in cells that have been irradiated with ultraviolet light, resulting in “higher internalization.” What’s more, the silver nanoparticles appeared to help trigger cellular repair.

The researchers concluded by saying their study results constitute compelling evidence that silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) applied to the skin in advance of ultraviolet light exposure (exposure to sun rays) can be used to prevent skin cancer from forming!

Another Clinical Study Concurs

In another clinical study, this one published in 2016 in the respected journal Cancer Letters, the same researchers compared the cell-protective effects of silver nanoparticles to those of zinc oxide nanoparticles and titanium oxide nanoparticles, both of which are widely used in conventional sunscreen lotions.

While all three substances provided sunscreen protection, only the silver nanoparticles protected the skin cells from the DNA damage that can lead to skin cancer.

This may be why the widespread use of sunscreen lotions containing either zinc oxide or titanium oxide has failed to put a stop to the rising rates of skin cancers.

The researchers wrote that when they tested the three substances on skin cells (which they refer to here as HaCaT), they were astonished to find that:

“…only Ag-NPs [i.e., silver nanoparticles] were active in protecting HaCaT cells against direct UVB-induced DNA-damage by repairing bulky-DNA lesions through nucleotide-excision-repair mechanism. 

Moreover, Ag-NPs were also effective in protecting HaCaT cells from UVB-induced oxidative DNA damage by enhancing SOD/CAT/GPx activity. 

In contrast, ZnO- and TiO₂-NPs not only failed in providing any direct protection from DNA-damage, but rather enhanced oxidative DNA-damage by increasing ROS production.

Together, these findings raise concerns about safety of ZnO- and TiO2-NPs and establish superior protective efficacy of Ag-NPs.”

Yes, the silver nanoparticles (i.e., “Ag-NPs”) not only protected the skin cells by repairing any DNA damage caused by ultraviolet light exposure, they also stimulated antioxidant protection of the cells.

Meanwhile, the zinc oxide nanoparticles and titanium dioxide nanoparticles so commonly used in sunscreen lotions today provided no such DNA repair, nor antioxidant protection.

In fact, both of those substances — the zinc oxide and the titanium dioxide — were found to promote ultraviolet light DNA damage by generating reactive oxygen species, instead of providing antioxidant protection like the silver did!

What’s more, silver was actually found to “suppress reactive oxygen species generation” through its ability to promote antioxidant protection.

So the researchers found that silver is clearly superior to both zinc and titanium in protecting human skin cells against ultraviolet damage that can result in skin cancer!

The researchers concluded:

“Only silver nanoparticles provide biological protection against UVB-induced DNA damage… our findings have suggested that Ag-NPs are superior to TiO2- and ZnO-NPs in protecting human skin cells from the deleterious effects of UVB…

Thus, these results suggest that Ag-NPs can serve well as replacement for current major active ingredients i.e. ZnO- and TiO2-NPs of commercially available sunscreen creams.”

In short, the researchers claim silver nanoparticles work far better at protecting the skin against the damaging and potentially cancer-causing effects of sunlight than the two most commonly used ingredients in sunscreen lotions today, and that silver should be used in sunscreen creams instead of zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.

Yet Another Clinical Study

Finally, in another study published in 2015 the medical journal BMC Cancer, some of the same researchers who published the previous two studies found that silver nanoparticles on the smaller end of the nanosilver size scale provide the best protection to skin cells against DNA damage from ultraviolet light. They wrote:

“Recently, we reported that polydisperse colloidal suspension of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) protected the human keratinocytes (HaCaT) against UVB-induced damage, thus indicating their potential for prevention of skin carcinogenesis.

Here we sought out to investigate if size controlled the chemopreventive efficacy of AgNPs against UVB-induced DNA damage and apoptosis.”

In other words, the researchers wanted to know if the size of the silver nanoparticles made any difference in the degree of protection and repair they provided to skin cells exposed to ultraviolet light.

They tested a variety of concentrations of silver nanoparticles ranging from one to 10 ppm. And they tested a variety of sizes of silver nanoparticles ranging from 10 to 100 nm — all well within the “nano” range.

And what did they discover?

They found that silver nanoparticles in the smallest size range (i.e., anywhere between 10 nm and 40 nm) “were effective in protecting the skin cells from UVB radiation-induced DNA damage…whereas no protection was observed with AgNPs of larger sizes (60-100 nm).”

The researchers went on to state that “only smaller size AgNPs (10-40 nm) were effective in protecting the skin cells from UV radiation-induced apoptosis.”

In other words, it was the very smallest of these silver nanoparticles that stopped the process leading to accumulated skin cell damage that can cause skin cancer.

Of course, it’s long been know that the smaller your silver particles are, the easier it is for the body to utilize them, and the more effective they are. For more details, see the article Colloidal Silver: Why Smaller Truly Is Better.

And Yet Another Important Clinical Study
— This Time on Animals!

While the previous studies described above were laboratory test-tube studies, one of the same researchers involved in the above clinical studies, Seema Singh, Ph.D., who works as an Assistant Professor of Oncologic Sciences at University of South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute (USAMCI) in Mobile, Alabama, conducted an animal study on the same topic, in 2016.

She began the Abstract of the study by writing:

“Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, particularly its UVB component, is an established cause of human skin carcinogenesis due to its ability to cause DNA damage in skin cells.

Although several sunscreen formulations have been developed and commercialized to limit or minimize UVB exposure to skin cells; incidence of skin cancer has continued to increase suggesting their limited or no efficacy in preventing UV-induced skin cancer occurrence.

Recently, we revealed the potential of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs; ≤ 50 nm) against UVB radiation-induced DNA damage in human keratinocytes (HaCaT). Here, we performed preclinical evaluation of chemopreventive efficacy of AgNPs [silver nanoparticles] against UVB-induced skin tumorigenesis in SKH-1 hairless mouse model.”

In other words, after having tested silver nanoparticles on skin cells in vitro (i.e., in a lab test tube environment) and finding them to be protective against the ultraviolet DNA damage that can lead to cancer, she now decided to test them in vivo, meaning on live animals.

She chose to use hairless mice to conduct the test, due to their high susceptibility to getting cancer from ultraviolet light exposure.

First, she mixed silver nanoparticles into a cream base that would be applied topically “onto the dorsal area of the mouse.” Then she began exposing the mice to ultraviolet radiation for several weeks.

According to Dr. Singh, 93.3% of the mice that received exposure to ultraviolet light, and no treatment with silver nanoparticles, “showed tumor formation” within 29 weeks.

But in the groups of mice treated with 20 ppm silver nanoparticles cream and 40 ppm silver nanoparticles cream, respectively, tumor incidence was decreased by a whopping 50% to 78%, respectively.

In other words, unlike traditional sunscreens which have no cancer protective benefits whatsoever, the silver nanoparticles cream dramatically reduced the incidences of skin cancer on the treated mice.

What’s more, Dr. Singh treated some of the mice with the silver nanoparticles cream alone for 29 weeks, in order to determine if there was any toxicity to the mice. She concluded the Abstract of her study by stating:

“Additionally, AgNPs treatment alone for 29 weeks did not induce any apparent signs of toxicity and changes in the body weight suggesting the safety of AgNPs.

Altogether, these findings suggest that AgNPs are potential chemopreventive agents against UVB radiation-induced skin carcinogenesis and thus opening the ways for human applications.”

In other words, one day, perhaps soon, commercial interests will be bringing to market sunscreens that actually work to help prevent cancer because they contain silver nanoparticles instead of the traditionally used zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, which as we’ve seen above, can actually promote skin cell damage that can result in cancer.

Indeed, the research synopsized above has already resulted in a patent application for a silver nanoparticles formulation designed to reduce or inhibit damage to skin caused by ultraviolet radiation.

According to the patent application:

“UV exposure can induce skin cancer due to its ability to damage skin cells at various levels. More specifically, it is believed that UV radiation damages skin cells by forming dimers in DNA between adjacent pyrimidine residues, potentially leading to UV ‘signature’ mutations that can accumulate over time.

… Formulations including silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and methods of treatment including the same are disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, formulations and methods of treatment using the same may advantageously protect skin cell from UV induced damage and/or repair skin cells after UV induced damage. Further embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein.”

What’s more, Dr. Hesham Tawfeek, Ph.D., a Jordanian with a degree in Pharmaceutical Technology who has had numerous clinical studies published, says he’s working on a new project titled “Delivery of Silver Nanoparticles for Treatment of Skin Cancer,” with the stated goal of developing “Effective delivery of silver nanoparticles to the skin via hydrogel preparation.”

In other words, he’s working on developing a treatment for skin cancer based on the application to the skin of a silver nanoparticle gel.

The bottom line is that, silver nanoparticles have now been shown to be not only protective against cancer-causing DNA damage to skin cells, but also able to help repair and reverse the skin cell damage caused by ultraviolet light.

And this has now been demonstrated both in vitro (i.e., test tube lab environment) and in vivo, meaning in living creatures (i.e., mouse model)!

What’s more, it’s been determined by the researchers that silver nanoparticles in the 10 nm to 40 nm size range work best.

And finally, we’ve learned that researchers from the South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute are in the process of patenting formulations for using a silver nanoparticles cream as a means of helping reduce ultraviolet light-induced damage to skin cell DNA (which could otherwise lead to skin cancer), and others are working on development of a silver nanoparticles gel for actually treating skin cancer.

An Interesting Aside

As an aside, the South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute from which the research above has largely been conducted was named in June 2017, “a Melanoma Center of Excellence for its expertise in treatment offerings for the most serious form of skin cancer.”

The designation was made by the nonprofit Melanoma Hope Network based in St. Louis, MO. As stated on their website:

“This recognition sets us apart from our competition and lets the community know that MCI is the place to go for the most advanced melanoma care,” said MCI Director Dr. Michael A. Finan. “No one in the region has invested as heavily in melanoma research and treatment as we have.”

I point this out only to demonstrate that the skin cancer research synopsized above is not in the least bit “dicey” or “crackpot,” but instead, is from one of the top skin cancer research and treatment centers in the U.S., and perhaps the world.

Silver Nanoparticles Kill Existing Skin Cancer Cells, As Well

As exciting as the studies on silver nanoparticles’ effectiveness in preventing skin cancer are, perhaps even more exciting are the studies about the activity of silver nanoparticles against actual skin cancer. I will begin this section with a very recent study.

In the in vitro study “Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Trapa natans extract and their anticancer activity against A431 human skin cancer cells” published in October, 2018 in the Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology, researchers examined the activity of silver nanoparticles green-synthesized from the leaf of the Trapa natans plant against a line of human skin cancer cells known as A431 cells.

These are a form of squamous cell carcinoma, the second-most dangerous kind of skin cancer cells next to melanoma.

The researchers found that silver nanoparticles ranging in size from 30 nm to 90 nm demonstrated “significant anticancer activity against A431 human skin cancer cells.”

The study authors wrote that “the results suggest that, biosynthesized Ag nanoparticles from T. natans can be used as a novel therapeutic agent for skin cancer” and they also reported that “Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are one of the most promising biomedical agents for anticancer therapy.”

Of course, this is only a test tube study, conducted by applying silver nanoparticles to human skin cancer cells in a lab environment. It’s not the equivalent of a human study. But the results nevertheless indicate that nanosilver is a very promising therapy for skin cancer, as the study authors pointed out, above.

[It’s also important to note here that “green synthesis” of the silver nanoparticles simply means the researchers used plant extracts to manufacture silver nanoparticles, rather than using electricity or toxic chemical means. Normally, in clinical research, potentially toxic chemicals are used to extract silver ions from silver nitrate. Then another potentially toxic chemical is used to convert the extracted silver ions into metallic silver nanoparticles. In the case of “green synthesis” of silver nanoparticles, a plant extract with no known anti-cancer properties of its own is used in place of the chemicals.]

Perhaps The Most Exciting Clinical Study of All!

In what may be the most exciting silver nanoparticles and skin cancer study thus far, another clinical study has demonstrated that silver nanoparticles are effective at actually destroying melanoma skin cancer cells — at least, in a test tube environment.

This is particularly important, because melanoma is one of the most deadly and difficult-to-cure forms of skin cancer, resulting in some 92,000 cases a year in the U.S. alone, and resulting in approximately 10,000 deaths per year in the U.S.

In a study titled, “Cytotoxic Effect Of Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles Using Indigofera Longeracemosa On Skin Cancer Sk Mel-28 Cell Lines,” researchers investigated the effectiveness of silver nanoparticles ranging in size from 30-110 nanometers (nm) against melanoma skin cancer cells — the most deadly form of skin cancer cells.

The study, which was published in 2015 in the International Journal of Preclinical & Pharmaceutical Research, found that:

“AgNPs (were) observed to be most effective in cell growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in SK-MEL-28 cells [a line of melanoma skin cancer cells]. It can be considered as effective cytotoxic agent.

Further toxicity studies of AgNPs of on animal models might open a door for a range of anticancer agents.”

In other words, rather than using potentially toxic chemical substances to produce silver nanoparticles, the nanosilver was instead manufactured using an extract from a natural plant substance known as Indigofera longeracemosa, which has no anti-cancer properties of its own.

These “green synthesized” silver nanoparticles were found to be effective at both inhibiting the growth of melanoma skin cancer cells as well as in inducing the death of the melanoma cells as the concentration of silver nanoparticles was increased!

As explained in the study Abstract:

“The in vitro cytotoxicity of the AgNPs of Indigofera longeracemosa was evaluated against Human skin cancer cell lines SK MEL-28 cell line at different concentrations. The samples demonstrated a considerable cytotoxicity against the SK MEL-28 cell line…

The result showed that SK MEL-28 cell proliferation was significantly inhibited by AgNPs with an IC50 value of 48 μg/ml of the concentration.”

The percentage of toxicity increased with each increase in the concentration of silver nanoparticles, suggesting that biosynthesized silver nanoparticles could be of immense use in the medical field to a certain extent as anticancer agent.“

To better explain what you’ve just read: The term “IC50” means the concentration at which 50% inhibition against the cancer cells was achieved. The measurement “μg/ml” can also be stated as parts per million (ppm).

Thus 48 ppm of silver nanoparticles is the amount the researchers found inhibited the growth of melanoma skin cancer cells by 50%.

What’s more, the researchers found that the toxicity of the nanosilver against the melanoma cancer cells increased proportionately as higher concentrations (ppm) of silver nanoparticles were applied.

In short, the study authors concluded that silver nanoparticles have great potential against melanoma skin cancer, an aggressive and potentially deadly cancer that’s becoming more widespread (and more chemo-resistant) each year.

In the “Results and Discussion” section of the study, we see several more important findings. The researchers wrote:

“The cytotoxic effect of AgNPs [silver nanoparticles] on cell viability has a major role in anticancer activity thereby reducing disease progression.

The cytotoxic effects of silver were the results of active physiochemical interaction of silver atoms with the functional group of intra cellular proteins as well as with the nitrogen bases and phosphate groups in DNA.

The DNA fragmentation experiments subsequently confirmed induction of apoptosis.”

In plain English, when applied to the melanoma cancer cells, the atoms of silver from the silver nanoparticles penetrated the melanoma cancer cells and interacted with proteins and chemicals inside the cells, resulting in death of the cancer cells.

This is important, because unlike healthy human cells, cancer cells don’t die; they keep reproducing over and over, causing the cancer to spread, which is what makes cancer so dangerous and potentially deadly.

But this study demonstrates that nanosilver appears to stop the process of skin cancer cell reproduction, at least in the laboratory “test tube” environment.

In the study’s “Conclusion,” the authors summed up the results of their study by stating:

“The biologically synthesized AgNPs showed a considerable cytotoxic effect on SK MEL-28 cell line with an IC50 value of 48µg/ml.

Morphological analysis of SK MEL-28 cells with AgNPs of Indigofera longeracemosa at different concentrations (10, 50 and 100 µg/ml) showed typical apoptosis . . .

DNA fragmentation assay confirmed the induction of apoptosis in SK-MEL-28 cells treated with AgNPs of Indigofera longeracemosa. Apoptotic cells were characterized by condensed and fragmented DNA.

From RT PCR (Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction)analysis it was clear that, AgNPs of Indigofera longeracemosa decreased the expression of anti apoptitic gene BcL 2 and increased the expression of tumor suppressor gene p53.

Since the AgNPs of Indigofera longeracemosa (were) observed to be the most effective in cell growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in SK-MEL-28 cells, it can be considered as an effective cytotoxic agent.

Further toxicity studies of AgNPs of Indigofera longeracemosa on animal models might open a door for a new range of anticancer agents.“

In a nutshell folks, the silver nanoparticles increased the activity of a gene (p53) that suppresses tumors, while simultaneously decreasing the activity of another gene (BcL 2) that stops cancer cells from dying like normal cells.

This resulted in both inhibition of the cancer cell growth, and “apoptosis,” a term which means the cancer cells also began to die off.

So this exciting and ground-breaking study found that silver nanoparticles a.) helped inhibit the growth of melanoma skin cancer cells, and b.) helped usher melanoma skin cancer cells to their death, and thus, c.) could be considered as “an effective cytotoxic agent”.

Another Exciting Clinical Study
– an In Vivo (In the Body) Study!

While most of the studies mentioned in this article are in vitro studies (so-called laboratory “test tube” studies), such is not the case with the in vivo (in the body) mice study titled “Potential of colloidal or silver nanoparticles to reduce the growth of B16F10 melanoma tumors” which was published in May, 2013 in the African Journal of Microbiology Research.

Study author Crystel Aleyvick Sierra-Rivera is the author of 9 publications which have received 128 citations in other medical journals. She hails from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, the third largest university in Mexico. Here is how Ms. Sierra-Rivera described the aim of the study:

“The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-tumoral activity of colloidal silver (AgC) or silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in a B16F10 melanoma mice model.”

Keep in mind this is a study on the effects of colloidal silver and metallic silver nanoparticles on melanoma skin cancer in mice. Ms. Sierra-Rivera described the study and its results as follows:

“In vivo, B16F10 melanoma cells (5 × 10 5) were implanted in six weeks old C57BL/6 mice.

About 8 days after cells injection, the subcutaneous treatments were started with AgC or AgNPs, tumor volume and tumor weight were evaluated and the difference of treated groups and control demonstrated that melanoma tumor growth was significantly decreased.

Our results suggest that AgC or AgNPs could be useful as an antiproliferative drug, inducing an impairment of tumoral growth.”

So in a ground-breaking clinical study conducted on mice, in which melanoma skin cancer had been purposely induced, both standard colloidal silver and manufactured silver nanoparticles were demonstrated to stop the proliferation of melanoma skin cancer tumors!

And Yet Another Exciting In Vivo Study!

Mice were also used in the study “Potential Theranostics Application of Bio-Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles (4-in-1 System)” which was published in the journal Theranostics in January 2014, and which was described in the article “Glow nanoparticles inhibit cancer cell growth” published the following month in NatureIndia.

As the article described the study:

“The researchers synthesized these versatile silver nanoparticles from the leaf extract of a medicinal shrub and silver nitrate solution using water as a solvent.

They studied the efficacy of the nanoparticles in inhibiting the growth of the bacterium Escherichia coli and killing human lung and breast cancer cells as well as mice skin cancer cells.”

“The nanoparticles killed the bacterial cells by rupturing their cell walls, resulting in the release of cellular cytoplasm. The nanoparticles decimated bacteria cells with an effectiveness comparable to similar doses of the synthetic antibacterial agent ampicillin.

The silver nanoparticles also significantly inhibited the proliferation of the [skin] cancer cells. The acidic environment of the cancer cells caused the nanoparticles to release silver ions, which generated reactive oxygen species that stifled the growth of the cancer cells.”

So once again, in an animal study, silver has been demonstrated by researchers to inhibit the growth of skin cancer cells.

And in this study, the researchers admit openly that it’s the silver ions released by the metallic silver nanoparticles that actually do the damage to the skin cancer cells. In other words, it’s the ionic fraction of the silver that kills cancer cells!

So why don’t researchers just use pure, ionic silver in their clinical studies, rather than metallic silver nanoparticles?

I believe it’s because silver nanoparticles can be manufactured using unique processes that can be patented and monopolized (and the end result sold as a “new drug”), whereas anyone with a high-quality colloidal silver generator can create their own pure ionic silver, teaming with cancer-fighting silver ions. And they can do so for just pennies per quart! So they’re hardly going to spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on a clinical study they can’t make money off of in the end.

More Studies on Silver Nanoparticles and Skin Cancer

In addition to the above-described studies, a clinical white paper titled “Silver Nanoparticles: A Review” was published in the International Journal of Current Research.

The article’s authors wrote that:

“Cancer is one of the most deadly diseases treated by conventional chemotherapeutic agents exhibiting poor specificity and dose limiting toxicity.

“The present study is aimed to throw a focus on the potential of green synthesized silver nanoparticles cytotoxicity on skin cancer cell lines and its application as an anticancer agent.” 

The authors further wrote that:

“Usually cancer is treated with combination of radiation, surgery, chemotherapy and targeted therapy, but all these therapies have some drawbacks, so it is needed to investigate more desirable therapy for cancer treatment.

Silver nanoparticles may be employed as an effective treatment agent against various types of cancers.

As per the recent works, green synthesized silver nanoparticles have anticancer activity and are proved more effective and safe.”

In other words, silver nanoparticles were deemed to be more effective and safer against cancer than the usual mainstream cancer treatment trio of radiation, surgery and chemotherapy!

The authors went on to note that “Silver nanoparticles are cytotoxic to cancer cells and have potential as an antitumor agent. Varieties of nanoparticles have shown novel biological activity to induce autophagy and promote cell death.”

In other words, silver triggers the cancer cells to self-destruct!

The reviewers went on to briefly review a number of studies about the anti-cancer and anti-tumor activity of silver nanoparticles that have been “green-synthesized” via a number of novel methods, including through the use of plants, bacteria, fungi, algae, and yeast.

(Again, I must point out there that manufacturing silver nanoparticles through such novel procedures gives the researchers a right to patent the process and afterwards monopolize the sales of any silver-based medical product they might later be able to bring to market. Big Pharma is Big Business. You’d better believe it.)

The good news is this: The various studies reviewed by the authors of this clinical white paper indicated significant anti-cancer activity against a variety of skin cancers and also noted the anti-cancer activity of silver nanoparticles against other forms of cancer, including liver cancer, breast cancer and lymphoma.

In the Conclusion to the clinical white paper, the authors wrote:

“If it is proved safe, biogenic silver nanoparticles will give tremendous breakthrough in the field of nanomedicines and make this agent an effective alternative in tumor and angiogenesis like diseases.”

As we know from a number of clinical studies, including ones conducted after the above-mentioned clinical white paper was published, silver nanoparticles have been found to be very safe when employed against skin cancer and other forms of cancer.

Some Relevant Articles

In addition to all of the clinical studies, there are a number of relevant articles about the use of silver nanoparticles (as well as colloidal silver) for skin cancer. Here’s some of the information I gleaned from a few of them:

An article that appeared in March, 2018 in ScienceDaily was titled “New family of promising, selective silver-based anti-cancer drugs discovered.”

The article described how researchers in South Africa had conducted a study which examined the activity of various silver-based complexes against cancer cells. Quoting from the article:

“A new family of very promising silver-based anti-cancer drugs has been discovered by researchers in South Africa. The most promising silver thiocyanate phosphine complex among these, called UJ3 for short, has been successfully tested in rats and in human cancer cells in the laboratory.”

Professor Marianne Cronjé, Head of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Johannesburg. was quoted as saying:

“The UJ3 complex is as effective as the industry-standard drug Cisplatin in killing cancer cells in laboratory tests done on human breast cancer and melanoma, a very dangerous form of skin cancer, as well.”

Ms. Cronjé went on to say “…UJ3 requires a 10 times lower dose to kill cancer cells. It also focuses more narrowly on cancer cells, so that far fewer healthy cells are killed.”

The article noted that in addition to requiring a much lower dose than an industry standard, the silver-based UJ3 also had fewer side effects owing to its lower toxicity.

What’s more, the article gushed that due to incorporating silver instead of the platinum used in industry standard chemotherapy drugs, and thanks to the much lower required dose, a new chemotherapy drug such as UJ3 could be produced for 10 times less cost than platinum-based chemotherapy drugs and could potentially be priced much less.

So the researches claim “fewer side effects” and say “far fewer healthy cells are killed” when their new silver-based drug complex is used. But why not just use plain old ionic silver, or metallic silver nanoparticles (which leach silver ions in the presence of cancer cells and don’t harm healthy cells at all)?

You probably guessed it: What we see here once again are researchers using novel methods to create a silver-based “drug” so they can patent it, and monopolize its sale. And of course, drugs inevitably come with an array of pesky and sometimes life-threatening side effects.

It turns out that thiocyanate used in this new silver-based drug comes from thiocyanic acid, whose safety is described by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on the CDC’s website as:

“The substance polymerizes due to warming. The substance decomposes on heating producing toxic fumes. Reacts violently with strong bases and strong oxidants producing toxic fumes including hydrogen cyanide.”

Cyanide? As Marmaduke would say, “Aruf!” For my money, and far less of it mind you, I’ll stick with the safe, inexpensive, and proven colloidal silver!

Another Interesting Article

In the article “Gold and Silver Nanoparticles for Skin Cancer Chemoprevention and Therapy”, author Rohan Palanski wrote about the findings from a handful of studies conducted on gold and silver nanoparticles ranging in size from 10 to 40 nm.

The idea behind the studies was to determine their potential for preventing and treating skin cancer as well as determining their toxicity to normal cells.

His article, which was awarded a prize by the Society for Science, described how both gold and silver nanoparticles were non-toxic to human skin cells (keratinocytes) and that while gold nanoparticles turned out to have no preventive or therapeutic value against skin cancer cells, silver nanoparticles had both. As he wrote:

“Thus, while gold nanoparticles are not chemopreventive or therapeutic, silver nanoparticles have both a chemopreventive effect against UVB-induced damage and a therapeutic effect against skin cancer cells.”

Author Palanki has participated in, and co-authored, multiple studies on silver nanoparticles and skin cancer. He hails from the Department of Oncologic Sciences at the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Cancer Institute in Mobile, Alabama.

Australian Government Admits Silver Kills Skin Cancer

Lastly, in the Appendix to the Australian Government Department of Health’s National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme titled “Nano Silver Toxicology Information and References“, we find this jewel:

“Decrease in mitochondrial function and onset of apoptosis was reported in human skin carcinoma cells with silver nanoparticles ranging in size from 7-20 nm and at concentrations of 0.78 µg/mL and 1.56 µg/mL respectively (Arora et al., 2008).”

As Steve Barwick, author of the new book, Colloidal Silver and Cancer: a Surprising Look, recently remarked to me, “That’s a fascinating quote because it means less than 2 ppm nanosilver killed skin cancer cells in the lab, and the Australian government is admitting it.“

3 Brief Colloidal Silver and Skin Cancer Success Stories

In addition to the myriad of clinical studies described above, there are also some eye-opening first-hand reports of success from people who have used colloidal silver against skin cancer, as you’ll see below:

The first report is from a young lady who claims her father-in-law was able to beat basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer) by using colloidal silver orally. She wrote:

“My father-in law had Basal Cell Carcinoma skin cancer. We have been supplying him with colloidal silver since purchasing a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge.

Now, his skin cancer is gone, thanks to God, colloidal silver, Essiac tea and the skin lotion he was using from the doctors.

We had been giving him 40 ppm every time we could afford to travel the three hours up his way (three times). He was taking two shot glasses full per day, one in the morning and one in the evening.

We only gave him the Essiac tea once, and don’t know if he ever used it. Twice he had paid $188.80 for the skin lotion from the doctors, but it would make him break out with sores on his face when he ran out of it.

I believe you’re responsible for helping save his life and would scream this to the world. Thank you!” — J.M. Alberta, Canada

The second report comes to us courtesy of testimonial section of The Silver Edge website. It reads:

“Colloidal silver user A. Koblick sent us the following “before and after” photos of the amazing healing he has experienced by using colloidal silver made with his Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator on a nasty case of skin cancer.

Mr. Koblick was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on his right leg in early 2005. His doctor told him he would have to undergo the standard medical procedure for trying to stop this type of cancer, which is a process called electrodesiccation.

“He decided instead to try making and using his own colloidal silver first, with a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator.

He began by taking about two ounces of colloidal silver per day internally, and also using a wet tissue to gently “dab” 10 ppm colloidal silver, full strength, directly onto the cancerous site several times a day, allowing it to air dry.

“The “before” photo (shown below, on the left side) shows a very red, inflamed leg with cancerous lesions beginning to spread. The “after” photo (right side), taken four months later, shows phenomenal healing of the same area. As of this writing, his doctor says he will not need to undergo the prescribed medical procedure.”

The third report is one posted on the renowned alternate health website CureZone by my good friend and prolific CureZone contributor “Grizz”. He reported simply that:

“I cured a man at our church with skin cancer on his nose using Colloidal Silver cream. No scars, no skin blemishes, it left his skin perfectly normal.”

I am telling you about this last report for two reasons:

First of all, I have known “Grizz” (whose actual name is Eric) for well over a decade and trust him completely. If he says something, you can count on it being true to the best of his knowledge.

And secondly, Grizz specifically mentioned using colloidal silver cream. I believe that a topical cream or gel that contains colloidal silver is probably the most effective way to treat skin cancer with colloidal silver, though as you’ve seen above, many people have simply sprayed liquid colloidal silver onto the affected area multiple times a day to achieve remission.

Conclusion

To briefly summarize what we’ve learned above:

• Silver has been demonstrated in clinical studies to reduce DNA damage to skin cells which could otherwise “lead to accumulation of carcinogenic mutations leading to malignant transformation of the skin cells.”
• Silver has been demonstrated in clinical studies to be safe for healthy skin cells, affecting only DNA-damaged skin cells or cells in which cancer has already asserted itself.
• Silver has been demonstrated in clinical studies to be superior in effectiveness to ZnO- and TiO2-NPs (i.e., zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, the two main ingredients in commercial sunscreens) in protecting human skin cells from the deleterious effects of ultraviolet light (sunlight).
• Clinical studies have demonstrated that silver nanoparticles in the smallest size range (i.e., anywhere between 10 nm and 40 nm) were the most effective in protecting skin cells from UVB radiation-induced DNA damage that can lead to cancer.
• Clinical studies on animals have now demonstrated that pre-treatment of skin with silver nanoparticles before it’s exposed to high levels of ultra-violet light reduced tumor incidence by a whopping 50% to 78%, respectively, compared to animals that were similarly exposed to ultra-violet light but had no silver pre-treatment.
• Many of these findings have been made by some of the world’s top cancer research centers.
• Patent applications are now being made by researchers for a silver nanoparticles skin formulation designed to reduce or inhibit carcinogenic damage to skin caused by ultraviolet radiation.
• Silver has been observed in clinical studies to heal existing skin cancers — including potentially deadly melanoma skin cancer — in both in vitro “test tube” studies and in in vivo animal studies.
• At least one study has found silver to be more effective than widely used potent chemotherapy drugs.
• New varieties of silver-based anti-cancer drugs are being researched and developed for skin cancer, as well as for other forms of cancer.
• In anecdotal accounts, a number of people have used safe, natural colloidal silver on their own skin cancers, and have found it to be extremely effective! (Though, of course, it must be stated at this point that anecdotal accounts are not the same as clinical evidence, and that your specialist should be involved in any decision regarding self-treatment so he or she can monitor your situation.)

Given all of this evidence, this author does not see how anyone could conclude anything other than that silver might very well be an important answer for skin cancer, both in terms of preventing it, as well as in actually curing it.

Further research is needed, of course. But the existing research is quite compelling, not to mention quite exciting. Soon enough, there just might be a silver lining for skin cancer!

Important Addendum: Where to Find Colloidal Silver

If you’re brand new to colloidal silver usage and are wondering where to buy it, it’s important to know that you can find it in just about any well-stocked health food store in America.  It’s also available on Amazon and numerous other websites.

But it can be extremely expensive. In fact, because colloidal silver works so well against numerous forms of infection and disease, it has the highest price mark-up of any nutritional supplement in existence.

The amount of actual silver in a four-ounce bottle of colloidal silver is about five to 12 cents worth.  (Yes, I said five to twelve cents.)

Yet because that small amount of silver is all it takes to decimate so many different kinds of infections, the manufacturers mark it up about 16,000%, charging a whopping $20 or $30 per bottle.

What’s more, manufacturers promoting the latest faddish colloidal silver product often charge far more per bottle – sometimes $35 to $50 for a tiny four-ounce bottle.

And people are more than willing to pay through the nose for these commercial colloidal silver products at health food stores because colloidal silver does indeed heal infections and prevent the spread of germs and disease faster and better than any other natural supplement on the planet!

So, commercially speaking, the retail price of colloidal silver at health food stores reflects its value to the consumer far more so than its true cost to produce. But here’s the good news:

Make Your Own High-Quality
Colloidal Silver for Pennies!

As I mentioned, typical health food store prices for colloidal silver can range from $20 to $30 for a tiny, four-ounce bottle.

But with a brand new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you can make your own safe, pure, high-quality micro-particle colloidal silver for about 36 cents a quart!  In other words, you can make it at actual cost, just like the big colloidal silver bottlers do.

Compared to typical health food store prices, your first two one-quart batches literally pay for the entire cost of your new generator!  Do you know of any other health product that literally pays for itself the very first few times you use it? The savings are absolutely astonishing!

In fact, by making your own high-quality colloidal silver with a brand new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you’ll be as close to having FREE colloidal silver as you can get, and for the rest of your life!

You’ll never have to pay those exorbitant health food store prices again!

The new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator is now the world’s #1 best-selling colloidal silver generator. Here are just a few reasons why you should own one…

• It pays for itself after your very first batch or two — your total cost to make your first one-quart batch is about 36 cents, compared to the $240 you’d pay at a health food store if you bought an equivalent amount (i.e., eight of those little 4-ounce bottles they normally sell for $30 apiece)!
• Safe, simple to operate…No special skills needed…You just set the handy timer, plug it in, walk away, and three hours later you have a perfect batch of therapeutic quality micro-particle colloidal silver…every time!  Here’s a short pictorial demonstrating how astonishingly easy it is to use a new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge:

• Produces uncommonly small silver micro-particles as low as .8 nm. That’s a fraction of a single nanometer. Compare that to health food store colloidal silver which can contain silver particles as large as 200 nm to 1,000 nm (or even larger), and you’ll see why micro-particle colloidal silver is the very best there is!  Smaller particles mean your body can absorb and utilize up to 99% of the colloidal silver you take, compared to maybe 30% or 40% with many health food store brands!
• Runs on standard household electricity, but uses less power than a tiny Christmas tree bulb – you won’t even see a blip on your electric bill!
• Produces uniform, crystal clear batches every single time that store for months, or even years, without losing potency!
• Cannot produce silver chloride or unsafe substances – you get pure, therapeutic-quality micro-particle colloidal silver every time!

Just read through some of the testimonials below to see for yourself how you’ll save literally thousands of dollars per year by making your own colloidal silver with your brand new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge!

Customer Testimonials

Here’s what one customer recently wrote to tell us:

“Owning a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge has given us the luxury of being able to use high-quality colloidal silver any time we need it.  And we never have to worry about the costs because it only costs a few pennies per quart to make!  It is without a doubt the single-best money-saving appliance in my entire house!

Best of all, the machine is very easy to use, and easy to store. I was concerned about ease-of-use, but my fears were unfounded. After I got mine and used it, I immediately bought one and sent it to my 83 year old mom, and she uses it regularly as well.

Now that I have a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator, I can use colloidal silver for everything — disinfecting the kitchen sinks, countertops, and the cutting board… spraying the toilet bowls, and the bathroom countertops and sinks… spraying it on my toothbrush to prevent bacterial growth…rinsing my mouth with it to prevent cavities and gum disease…you name it.

I even put it in the laundry rinse cycle when I do my linens, towels and kitchen rags, so I don’t have to wash them as frequently. It really keeps them fresh, and there’s never any mold or mildew anywhere in our house.

I also put some in the cat’s water bowl each day, and the dog’s too.  We use it in the bathtub for skin problems.  And of course we drink it when our tummies are queasy, or when we feel a cold or flu coming on.  We also gargle with it in order to get rid of sore throats, and sniff it up our noses to get rid of sinus problems.

My husband even sprays it on his hair in the mornings, and has completely eliminated his lifelong dandruff problem.  And he sprays a little bit in his eyes from time to time, and now has no more recurrent problems with sties.”

— K. Sullivan, NM

And here’s what another happy customer wrote to say about the tremendous savings she’s achieved by no longer having to purchase her colloidal silver through health food stores:

“We make a quart of colloidal silver at least once a week with the Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from the Silver Edge. I finally sat down and figured out how much this machine has been saving us. By making our own colloidal silver we’ve saved $11,503.20 this year alone, compared to the cost of colloidal silver at our local health food store.

The cost for colloidal silver at our local health food store is $30 for a tiny four-ounce bottle. But with my Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator, I can make eight times that amount (i.e., a full quart) for about 35 cents total cost.

If I were to purchase a quart of colloidal silver at the health food store, which would be eight of those tiny, four-ounce bottles, the cost would be a whopping $240 (i.e., 8 x $30 = $240) compared to the 35 cents I now spend to make a full quart!

Here’s the breakdown of our costs to make a full quart of colloidal silver with our Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator: It costs us about a dollar for a gallon of steam-distilled water at Walmart. So a quart of the steam-distilled water costs about 25 cents. And I estimate we use maybe a nickel’s worth of electricity and maybe another nickel’s worth of silver from the silver rods for every one-quart batch of colloidal silver we make. So that’s 35 cents a quart, all told, for each quart of micro-particle colloidal silver we make!

And frankly, considering how long the .999 fine silver rods have lasted (over a year and a half, so far, for the most recent set), I think it’s probably even cheaper than that. But it’s the lifetime savings we’ve experienced that’s just mind-boggling to me.

For example, we’ve had our Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver unit for nearly five years now. And as I mentioned we make one quart per week, and we spend about 35 cents a week on making colloidal silver.

This means we save about $239.65 a week by not having to purchase a quart’s worth of colloidal silver at our local health food store.  So do the math: In just one month, the savings is $958.60…in one year, the savings is $11,503.20…and in five years we’ve saved approximately $57,516.00!

When you put pencil to paper and figure it out, it definitely takes you by surprise. You just think ‘No way. I must have multiplied that wrong.’

But it’s true. The savings is legitimately well over $11,000 a year over health food store prices for colloidal silver, if you make and use a quart of colloidal silver a week like we do!  And we reap that incredible savings from the very reasonable $250 investment we made in purchasing our Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator.

In their advertising literature, The Silver Edge says the unit completely pays for itself after your first couple of one-quart batches. But really, that’s quite an understatement when you realize the true extent of your savings!

Of course, once you start making your own colloidal silver with a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you don’t really think about how much you’re saving compared to health food store prices, because it just becomes a normal part of your everyday life. But the savings is nevertheless astonishing when you reflect on it.

What’s especially nice is being able to produce a significantly higher-quality colloidal silver than what’s generally available to the public through health food stores, especially at such a tiny, tiny fraction of the cost.”

— Marie Wilkey, SC

The Bottom Line…

With a high-quality Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you’ll never again have to pay exorbitant health food store or internet vendor prices for high-quality colloidal silver!

Indeed, your first batch or two will indeed completely pay for the entire cost of your generator, compared to health food store prices!

What’s more, you’ll be able to give colloidal silver away FREE to family members, friends and neighbors, because you’ll be making it — literally — for only a few pennies per batch!

Simply click on this link to learn more about this phenomenal new breakthrough in colloidal silver-making technology, including our current, time-limited, money-saving offers that can save you up to $100 if you act quickly and decisively!

Meanwhile, I’ll be back next week with another insightful article on colloidal silver….

Yours for the safe, sane and responsible use of colloidal silver,

Steve Barwick, author

The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual

Helpful Links:

FREE Colloidal Silver Safe Dosage Report
Colloidal Silver Secrets Group on Facebook
Make Your Own Colloidal Silver for Pennies
.999 Pure Silver Wire for Making Colloidal Silver
Subscribe to the Colloidal Silver Secrets Ezine
Videos on Making and Using Colloidal Silver
Real-Life Colloidal Silver Success Stories
Colloidal Silver Update (News & Views)
The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual
The Colloidal Silver Secrets Video
Colloidal Silver Cures MRSA
Colloidal Silver Kills Viruses
Colloidal Silver Secrets blog
Meet Steve Barwick
Colloidal Silver

Important Note and Disclaimer: The contents of this Ezine have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information conveyed herein is from sources deemed to be accurate and reliable, but no guarantee can be made in regards to the accuracy and reliability thereof. The author, Steve Barwick, is a natural health journalist with over 30 years of experience writing professionally about natural health topics. He is not a doctor. Therefore, nothing stated in this Ezine should be construed as prescriptive in nature, nor is any part of this Ezine meant to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice. Nothing reported herein is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The author is simply reporting in journalistic fashion what he has learned during the past 17 years of journalistic research into colloidal silver and its usage. Therefore, the information and data presented should be considered for informational purposes only, and approached with caution. Readers should verify for themselves, and to their own satisfaction, from other knowledgeable sources such as their doctor, the accuracy and reliability of all reports, ideas, conclusions, comments and opinions stated herein. All important health care decisions should be made under the guidance and direction of a legitimate, knowledgeable and experienced health care professional. Readers are solely responsible for their choices. The author and publisher disclaim responsibility and/or liability for any loss or hardship that may be incurred as a result of the use or application of any information included in this Ezine.

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