Anticancer and antibacterial properties of carbon nanotubes are governed by their functional groups.

Due to their high strength, low weight, and biologically-inspired dimensions, carbon nanotubes have found wide interest across all of medicine. In this study, four types of highly dispersible multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of similar dimensions, but slightly different chemical compositions, were compared with an unmodified material to verify the impact their surface chemistry has on cytocompatibility, anticancer, inflammation, and antibacterial properties. Minute changes in the chemical composition were found to greatly affect the biological performance of the CNTs. Specifically, the CNTs with a large number of carbon atoms with a +2 coordination number induced cytotoxicity in macrophages and melanoma cells, and had a moderate antibacterial effect against Gram-positive (S. aureus) and Gram-negative (E. coli) bacteria strains, all while being cytocompatible towards human dermal fibroblasts. Moreover, substituting some of the OH groups with ammonia diminished their cytotoxicity towards macrophages while still maintaining the aforementioned positive qualities. At the same time, CNTs with a large number of carbon atoms with a +3 coordination number had a high innate cytocompatibility towards normal healthy cells but were toxic towards cancer cells and bacteria. The latter was further boosted by reacting the CNTs' carboxyl groups with ammonia. Although requiring further analyses, the results of this study, thus, introduce new CNTs that without drugs can treat cancer, inflammation, and/or infection while still remaining cytocompatible with mammalian cells.

Current state of RNA delivery using lipid nanoparticles to extrahepatic tissues: A review towards clinical translation.

Genetic medicine, including ribonucleic acid (RNA) therapy, has delivered numerous progresses to the treatment of diseases thanks to the development of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) as a delivery vehicle. However, RNA therapeutics are still limited by the lack of safe, precise, and efficient delivery outside of the liver. Thus, to fully realize the potential of genetic medicine, strategies to arm LNPs with extrahepatic targeting capabilities are urgently needed. This review explores the current state of next-generation LNPs that can bring RNA biomolecules to their targeted organ. The main approaches commonly used are described, including the modulation of internal lipid chemistries, the use of conjugated targeting moieties, and the designs of clinical administration. This work will demonstrate the advances in each approach and the remaining challenges in the field, focusing on clinical translation.

Selenium-based nanomaterials for biosensing applications.

The unique chemical and physical features of nanomaterials make them ideal for developing new and better sensing devices, particularly biosensors. Various types of nanoparticles, including metal, oxide, and semiconductor nanostructures, have been utilized to manufacture biosensors, and each kind of nanoparticle plays a unique role in the sensing system. Nanoparticles provide critical roles such as immobilizing biomolecules, catalyzing electrochemical processes, enhancing electron transport between electrode surfaces and proteins, identifying biomolecules, and even functioning as the reactant for the catalytic reaction. Among all the potential nanosystems to be used in biosensors, selenium nanoparticle (SeNP) features have sparked a growing interest in their use in bridging biological recognition events and signal transduction, as well as in developing biosensing devices with novel applications for identification, quantification, and study of different analytes of biological relevance. The optical, physical, and chemical characteristics of differently shaped SeNPs opened up a world of possibilities for developing biosensors of biomedical interest. The outstanding biocompatibility, conductivity, catalytic characteristics, high surface-to-volume ratio, and high density of SeNPs have enabled their widespread use in developing electrochemical biosensors with superior analytical performance compared to other designs of biosensors. This review summarizes recent and ongoing advances, current challenges, and future research perspectives on real-world applications of Se-based nanobiosensors to detect biologically relevant analytes such as hydrogen peroxide, heavy metals, or glucose. Due to the superior properties and multifunctionality of Se-NPs biosensors, these structures can open up considerable new horizons in the future of healthcare and medicine.

Synthesis of "Naked" TeO2 Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications.

Chalcogenide nanoparticles have become a very active field of research for their optoelectronic and biological properties. This article shows the production of tellurium dioxide nanoparticles (TeO2 NPs) by pulsed laser ablation in liquids. The produced nanoparticles were spherical with a diameter of around 70 nm. The energy band gap of those nanoparticles was determined to be around 5.2 eV. Moreover, TeO2 NPs displayed a dose-dependent antibacterial effect against antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli (MDR E. coli) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MR S. aureus). The "naked" nature of the nanoparticle surface helped to eradicate the antibiotic-resistant bacteria at a very low concentration, with IC50 values of ∼4.3 ± 0.9 and 3.7 ± 0.2 ppm for MDR E. coli and MR S. aureus, respectively, after just 8 h of culture. Further, the IC50 values of the naked TeO2 NPs against melanoma (skin cancer) and healthy fibroblasts were 1.6 ± 0.7 and 5.5 ± 0.2 ppm, respectively, for up to 72 h. Finally, to understand these optimal antibacterial and anticancer properties of the TeO2 NPs, the reactive oxygen species generated by the nanoparticles were measured. In summary, the present in vitro results demonstrate much promise for the presently prepared TeO2 NPs and they should be studied for a wide range of safe antibacterial and anticancer applications.

Antineoplastic activity of biogenic silver and gold nanoparticles to combat leukemia: Beginning a new era in cancer theragnostic.

The American Cancer Society estimated around 61,090 new cases of leukemia were diagnosed, and around 23,660 people died from this disease in the United States alone in 2021. Due to its burden on society, there is an unmet need to explore innovative approaches to overcome leukemia. Among different strategies that have been explored, nanotechnology appears to be a promising and effective approach for therapeutics. Specifically, biogenic silver and gold nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted significant attention for their antineoplastic activity toward leukemia cancer cells due to their unique physicochemical properties. Indeed, these nanostructures have emerged as useful approaches in anti-leukemic applications, either as carriers to enhance drug bioavailability and its targeted delivery to a specific organ or as a novel therapeutic agent. This review explores recent advances in green synthesized nanomaterials and their potential use against leukemia, especially focusing on silver (Ag) and gold (Au) nanostructures. In detail, we have reviewed various eco-friendly methods of bio-synthesized NPs, their analytical properties, and toxicity effects against leukemic models. This overview confirms the satisfactory potency of biogenic NPs toward leukemic cells and desirable safety profiles against human native cells, which opens a promising door toward commercializing these types of nontherapeutic agents if challenges involve clinical validations, reproducibility, and scalability could be resolved.

Composition-Dependent Cytotoxic and Antibacterial Activity of Biopolymer-Capped Ag/Au Bimetallic Nanoparticles against Melanoma and Multidrug-Resistant Pathogens.

Nanostructured silver (Ag) and gold (Au) are widely known to be potent biocidal and cytotoxic agents as well as biocompatible nanomaterials. It has been recently reported that combining both metals in a specific chemical composition causes a significant enhancement in their antibacterial activity against antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, as well as in their anticancer effects, while preserving cytocompatibility properties. In this work, Ag/Au bimetallic nanoparticles over a complete atomic chemical composition range were prepared at 10 at% through a green, highly reproducible, and simple approach using starch as a unique reducing and capping agent. The noble metal nanosystems were thoroughly characterized by different analytical techniques, including UV-visible and FT-IR spectroscopies, XRD, TEM/EDS, XPS and ICP-MS. Moreover, absorption spectra simulations for representative colloidal Ag/Au-NP samples were conducted using FDTD modelling. The antibacterial properties of the bimetallic nanoparticles were determined against multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, showing a clear dose-dependent inhibition even at the lowest concentration tested (5 µg/mL). Cytocompatibility assays showed a medium range of toxicity at low and intermediate concentrations (5 and 10 µg/mL), while triggering an anticancer behavior, even at the lowest concentration tested, in a process involving reactive oxygen species production per the nanoparticle Au:Ag ratio. In this manner, this study provides promising evidence that the presently fabricated Ag/Au-NPs should be further studied for a wide range of antibacterial and anticancer applications.

CRISPR/Cas-powered nanobiosensors for diagnostics.

CRISPR diagnostics (CRISPR-Dx) offer a wide range of enhancements compared to traditional nanobiosensors by taking advantage of the excellent trans-cleavage activity of the CRISPR/Cas systems. However, the single-stranded DNA/RNA reporters of the current CRISPR-Dx suffer from poor stability and limited sensitivity, which make their application in complex biological environments difficult. In comparison, nanomaterials, especially metal nanoparticles, exhibits robust stability and desirable optical and electrocatalytical properties, which make them ideal as reporter molecules. Therefore, biosensing research is moving towards the use of the trans-cleavage activity of CRISPR/Cas effectors on metal nanoparticles and apply the new phenomenon to develop novel nanobiosensors to target various targets such as viral infections, genetic mutations and tumor biomarkers, by using different sensing methods, including, but not limited to fluorescence, luminescence resonance, colorimetric and electrochemical signal readout. In this review, we explore some of the most recent advances in the field of CRISPR-powered nanotechnological biosensors. Demonstrating high accuracy, sensitivity, selectivity and versatility, nanobiosensors along with CRISPR/Cas technology offer tremendous potential for next-generation diagnostics of multiple targets, especially at the point of care and without any target amplification.

Pepper-Mediated Green Synthesis of Selenium and Tellurium Nanoparticles with Antibacterial and Anticancer Potential.

The production of nanoparticles for biomedical applications (namely with antimicrobial and anticancer properties) has been significantly hampered using traditional physicochemical approaches, which often produce nanostructures with poor biocompatibility properties requiring post-synthesis functionalization to implement features that such biomedical applications require. As an alternative, green nanotechnology and the synthesis of environmentally friendly nanomaterials have been gaining attention over the last few decades, using living organisms or biomolecules derived from them, as the main raw materials to produce cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and ready-to-be-used nanomaterials. In this article and building upon previous knowledge, we have designed and implemented the synthesis of selenium and tellurium nanoparticles using extracts from fresh jalapeño and habanero peppers. After characterization, in this study, the nanoparticles were tested for both their antimicrobial and anticancer features against isolates of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains and skin cancer cell lines, respectively. The nanosystems produced nanoparticles via a fast, eco-friendly, and cost-effective method showing different antimicrobial profiles between elements. While selenium nanoparticles lacked an antimicrobial effect at the concentrations tested, those made of tellurium produced a significant antibacterial effect even at the lowest concentration tested. These effects were correlated when the nanoparticles were tested for their cytocompatibility and anticancer properties. While selenium nanoparticles were biocompatible and had a dose-dependent anticancer effect, tellurium-based nanoparticles lacked such biocompatibility while exerting a powerful anti-cancer effect. Further, this study demonstrated a suitable mechanism of action for killing bacteria and cancer cells involving reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. In summary, this study introduces a new green nanomedicine synthesis approach to create novel selenium and tellurium nanoparticles with attractive properties for numerous biomedical applications.

Selenium Nanomaterials to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance.

The rise of antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics (AMR) as a healthcare crisis has led to a tremendous social and economic impact, whose damage poses a significant threat to future generations. Current treatments either are less effective or result in further acquired resistance. At the same time, several new antimicrobial discovery approaches are expensive, slow, and relatively poorly equipped for translation into the clinical world. Therefore, the use of nanomaterials is presented as a suitable solution. In particular, this review discusses selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) as one of the most promising therapeutic agents based in the nanoscale to treat infections effectively. This work summarizes the latest advances in the synthesis of SeNPs and their progress as antimicrobial agents using traditional and biogenic approaches. While physiochemical methods produce consistent nanostructures, along with shortened processing procedures and potential for functionalization of designs, green or biogenic synthesis represents a quick, inexpensive, efficient, and eco-friendly approach with more promise for tunability and versatility. In the end, the clinical translation of SeNPs faces various obstacles, including uncertain in vivo safety profiles and mechanisms of action and unclear regulatory frameworks. Nonetheless, the promise possessed by these metalloid nanostructures, along with other nanoparticles in treating bacterial infections and slowing down the AMR crisis, are worth exploring.

Advances in 3D-Printed Surface-Modified Ca-Si Bioceramic Structures and Their Potential for Bone Tumor Therapy.

Bioceramics such as calcium silicate (Ca-Si), have gained a lot of interest in the biomedical field due to their strength, osteogenesis capability, mechanical stability, and biocompatibility. As such, these materials are excellent candidates to promote bone and tissue regeneration along with treating bone cancer. Bioceramic scaffolds, functionalized with appropriate materials, can achieve desirable photothermal effects, opening up a bifunctional approach to osteosarcoma treatments-simultaneously killing cancerous cells while expediting healthy bone tissue regeneration. At the same time, they can also be used as vehicles and cargo structures to deliver anticancer drugs and molecules in a targeted manner to tumorous tissue. However, the traditional synthesis routes for these bioceramic scaffolds limit the macro-, micro-, and nanostructures necessary for maximal benefits for photothermal therapy and drug delivery. Therefore, a different approach to formulate bioceramic scaffolds has emerged in the form of 3D printing, which offers a sustainable, highly reproducible, and scalable method for the production of valuable biomedical materials. Here, calcium silicate (Ca-Si) is reviewed as a novel 3D printing base material, functionalized with highly photothermal materials for osteosarcoma therapy and drug delivery platforms. Consequently, this review aims to detail advances made towards functionalizing 3D-printed Ca-Si and similar bioceramic scaffold structures as well as their resulting applications for various aspects of tumor therapy, with a focus on the external surface and internal dispersion functionalization of the scaffolds.

Aloe Vera-Mediated Te Nanostructures: Highly Potent Antibacterial Agents and Moderated Anticancer Effects.

Cancer and antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics are two of the most worrying healthcare concerns that humanity is facing nowadays. Some of the most promising solutions for these healthcare problems may come from nanomedicine. While the traditional synthesis of nanomaterials is often accompanied by drawbacks such as high cost or the production of toxic by-products, green nanotechnology has been presented as a suitable solution to overcome such challenges. In this work, an approach for the synthesis of tellurium (Te) nanostructures in aqueous media has been developed using aloe vera (AV) extracts as a unique reducing and capping agent. Te-based nanoparticles (AV-TeNPs), with sizes between 20 and 60 nm, were characterized in terms of physicochemical properties and tested for potential biomedical applications. A significant decay in bacterial growth after 24 h was achieved for both Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli at a relative low concentration of 5 µg/mL, while there was no cytotoxicity towards human dermal fibroblasts after 3 days of treatment. AV-TeNPs also showed anticancer properties up to 72 h within a range of concentrations between 5 and 100 µg/mL. Consequently, here, we present a novel and green approach to produce Te-based nanostructures with potential biomedical applications, especially for antibacterial and anticancer applications.

Conductive all-carbon nanotube layers: Results on attractive physicochemical, anti-bacterial, anticancer and biocompatibility properties.

Physicochemical, electrochemical and biological performance of 4 types of all-carbon nanotube layers was studied. Higher oxidation state of carbon was responsible for micro-scaled uniformity of the layers and excellent electrical conductivity, while nitrogen containing functional groups yielded materials with anisotropy similar to natural tissues and reduced work function. All materials were cytocompatible with mammalian fibroblasts (viability >80%, cytotoxicity <3% at day 7) and human dermal fibroblast (viability of cells >70% at day 1), while reducing bacterial and cancer cells proliferation without adding any drug. After 8 h culture, a ~50% depletion in the number of Gram-positive bacteria was observed on materials with lower work function, while Gram-negative bacteria were more sensitive towards carbon coordination number and presence of nitrogen atoms (cell depletion of up to 48% on amidized carbon nanotubes). After 1-day culture, >80% reduction in the melanoma cells number, connected with enhanced production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was observed. All-carbon nanotube layers decreased bacteria and cancer cell functions without negatively influencing mammalian cells nor using drugs and we believe that this can be explained by various sensitivity of the tested cells towards exogenous ROS overproduction. As the concerns over implant-related infections as well as rates of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and chemotherapeutic-resistant cancer cells are growing, such materials should pave the way for a wide range of biomedical applications.

Nanocarrier drug resistant tumor interactions: novel approaches to fight drug resistance in cancer.

Cancer is one of the biggest healthcare concerns in our century, a disease whose treatment has become even more difficult following reports of drug-resistant tumors. When this happens, chemotherapy treatments fail or decrease in efficiency, leading to catastrophic consequences to the patient. This discovery, along with the fact that drug resistance limits the efficacy of current treatments, has led to a new wave of discovery for new methods of treatment. The use of nanomedicine has been widely studied in current years as a way to effectively fight drug resistance in cancer. Research in the area of cancer nanotechnology over the past decades has led to tremendous advancement in the synthesis of tailored nanoparticles with targeting ligands that can successfully attach to chemotherapy-resistant cancer by preferentially accumulating within the tumor region through means of active and passive targeting. Consequently, these approaches can reduce the off-target accumulation of their payload and lead to reduced cytotoxicity and better targeting. This review explores some categories of nanocarriers that have been used in the treatment of drug-resistant cancers, including polymeric, viral, lipid-based, metal-based, carbon-based, and magnetic nanocarriers, opening the door for an exciting field of discovery that holds tremendous promise in the treatment of these tumors.

Bi2O3 nano-flakes as a cost-effective antibacterial agent.

Bismuth oxide is an important bismuth compound having applications in electronics, photo-catalysis and medicine. At the nanoscale, bismuth oxide experiences a variety of new physico-chemical properties because of its increased surface to volume ratio leading to potentially new applications. In this manuscript, we report for the very first time the synthesis of bismuth oxide (Bi2O3) nano-flakes by pulsed laser ablation in liquids without any external assistance (no acoustic, electric field, or magnetic field). The synthesis was performed by irradiating, pure bismuth needles immerged in de-ionized water, at very high fluence ∼160 J cm-2 in order to be highly selective and only promote the growth of two-dimensional structures. The x- and y-dimensions of the flakes were around 1 µm in size while their thickness was 47.0 ± 12.7 nm as confirmed by AFM analysis. The flakes were confirmed to be α- and γ-Bi2O3 by SAED and Raman spectroscopy. By using this mixture of flakes, we demonstrated that the nanostructures can be used as antimicrobial agents, achieving a complete inhibition of Gram positive (MSRA) and Gram negative bacteria (MDR-EC) at low concentration, ∼50 ppm.

Green nanomedicine: the path to the next generation of nanomaterials for diagnosing brain tumors and therapeutics?

Introduction: Current brain cancer treatments, based on radiotherapy and chemotherapy, are sometimes successful, but they are not free of drawbacks.Areas covered: Traditional methods for the treatment of brain tumors are discussed here with new solutions presented, among which the application of nanotechnology has demonstrated promising results over the past decade. The traditional synthesis of nanostructures, which relies on the use of physicochemical methodologies are discussed, and their associated concerns in terms of environmental and health impact due to the production of toxic by-products, need for toxic catalysts, and their lack of biocompatibility are presented. An overview of the current situation for treating brain tumors using nanotechnological-based approaches is introduced, and some of the latest advances in the application of green nanomaterials (NMs) for the effective targeting of brain tumors are presented.Expert opinion: Green nanotechnology is introduced as a potential solution to toxic NMs through the application of environmentally friendly and cost-effective protocols using living organisms and biomolecules. The current status of this field, such as those involving clinical trials, is included, and the possible limitations of green-NMs and potential ways to avoid those limitations are discussed so that the field can potentially evolve.

Emerging Antineoplastic Biogenic Gold Nanomaterials for Breast Cancer Therapeutics: A Systematic Review.

Breast cancer remains as a concerning global health issue, being the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States (US) in 2019. Therefore, there is an urgent and substantial need to explore novel strategies to combat breast cancer. A potential solution may come from the use of cancer nanotechnology, an innovative field of study which investigates the potential of nanomaterials for cancer diagnosis, therapy, and theranostic applications. Consequently, the theranostic functionality of cancer nanotechnology has been gaining much attention between scientists during the past few years and is growing exponentially. The use of biosynthesized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) has been explored as an efficient mechanism for the treatment of breast cancer. The present study supposed a global systematic review to evaluate the effectiveness of biogenic AuNPs for the treatment of breast cancer and their anticancer molecular mechanisms through in vitro studies. Online electronic databases, including Cochrane, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, ProQuest, and Embase, were searched for the articles published up to July 16, 2019. Our findings revealed that plant-mediated synthesis was the most common approach for the generation of AuNPs. Most of the studies reported spherical or nearly spherical-shaped AuNPs with a mean diameter less than 100 nm in size. A significantly larger cytotoxicity was observed when the biogenic AuNPs were tested towards breast cancer cells compared to healthy cells. Moreover, biogenic AuNPs demonstrated significant synergistic activity in combination with other anticancer drugs through in vitro studies. Although we provided strong and comprehensive preliminary in vitro data, further in vivo investigations are required to show the reliability and efficacy of these NPs in animal models.

Naked Selenium Nanoparticles for Antibacterial and Anticancer Treatments.

Currently, antibiotic resistance and cancer are two of the most important public health problems killing more than ∼1.5 million people annually, showing that antibiotics and current chemotherapeutics are not as effective as they were in the past. Nanotechnology is presented here as a potential solution. However, current protocols for the traditional physicochemical synthesis of nanomaterials are not free of environmental and social drawbacks, often involving the use of toxic catalysts. This article shows the production of pure naked selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) by a novel green process called pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL). After the first set of irradiations, another set was performed to reduce the size below 100 nm, which resulted in a colloidal solution of spherical SeNPs with two main populations having sizes around ∼80 and ∼10 nm. The particles after the second set of irradiations also showed higher colloidal stability. SeNPs showed a dose-dependent antibacterial effect toward both standard and antibiotic-resistant phenotypes of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria at a range of concentrations between 0.05 and 25 ppm. Besides, the SeNPs showed a low cytotoxic effect when cultured with human dermal fibroblasts cells at a range of concentrations up to 1 ppm while showing an anticancer effect toward human melanoma and glioblastoma cells at the same concentration range. This article therefore introduces the possibility of using totally naked SeNPs synthesized by a new PLAL protocol as a novel and efficient nanoparticle fabrication process for biomedical applications.

Green nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems for osteogenic disorders.

Introduction: Current treatments for osteogenic disorders are often successful, however they are not free of drawbacks, such as toxicity or side effects. Nanotechnology offers a platform for drug delivery in the treatment of bone disorders, which can overcome such limitations. Nevertheless, traditional synthesis of nanomaterials presents environmental and health concerns due to its production of toxic by-products, the need for extreme and harsh raw materials, and their lack of biocompatibility over time.Areas covered: This review article contains an overview of the current status of treating osteogenic disorders employing green nanotechnological approaches, showing some of the latest advances in the application of green nanomaterials, as drug delivery carriers, for the effective treatment of osteogenic disorders.Expert opinion: Green nanotechnology, as a potential solution, is understood as the use of living organisms, biomolecules and environmentally friendly processes for the production of nanomaterials. Nanomaterials derived from bacterial cultures or biomolecules isolated from living organisms, such as carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids, have been proven to be effective composites. These nanomaterials introduce enhancements in the treatment and prevention of osteogenic disorders, compared to physiochemically-synthesized nanostructures, specifically in terms of their improved cell attachment and proliferation, as well as their ability to prevent bacterial adhesion.

Electroconductive Nanobiomaterials for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine.

Regenerative medicine aims to engineer tissue constructs that can recapitulate the functional and structural properties of native organs. Most novel regenerative therapies are based on the recreation of a three-dimensional environment that can provide essential guidance for cell organization, survival, and function, which leads to adequate tissue growth. The primary motivation in the use of conductive nanomaterials in tissue engineering has been to develop biomimetic scaffolds to recapitulate the electrical properties of the natural extracellular matrix, something often overlooked in numerous tissue engineering materials to date. In this review article, we focus on the use of electroconductive nanobiomaterials for different biomedical applications, particularly, very recent advancements for cardiovascular, neural, bone, and muscle tissue regeneration. Moreover, this review highlights how electroconductive nanobiomaterials can facilitate cell to cell crosstalk (i.e., for cell growth, migration, proliferation, and differentiation) in different tissues. Thoughts on what the field needs for future growth are also provided.

Citric Juice-mediated Synthesis of Tellurium Nanoparticles with Antimicrobial and Anticancer Properties.

Bacterial infections and cancer are two of the most significant concerns that the current healthcare system should tackle nowadays. Green nanotechnology is presented as a feasible solution that is able to produce materials with significant anticancer and antibacterial activity, while overcoming the main limitations of traditional synthesis. In the present work, orange, lemon and lime extracts were used as both reducing and capping agents for the green synthesis of tellurium nanoparticles (TeNPs) using a microwave-assisted reaction. TeNPs showed a uniform size distribution, and rod- and cubic-shapes, and were extensively characterized in terms of morphology, structure and composition using TEM, SEM, XPS, XRD, FTIR and EDX analysis. TeNPs showed an important antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative and -positive bacteria in a range concentrations from 5 to 50 µg/mL over a 24-hour time period. Besides, nanoparticles showed anticancer effect towards human melanoma cells over 48 hours at concentrations up to 50 µg/mL. Moreover, the Te nanostructures showed no significant cytotoxic effect towards human dermal fibroblast at concentrations up to 50 µg/mL. Therefore, we present an environmentally-friendly and cost-effective synthesis of TeNPs using only fruit juices and showing enhanced and desirable biomedical properties towards both infectious diseases and cancer.