In vitro anticancer activity of silver nanoparticle synthesized by Escherichia coli VM1 isolated from marine sediments of Ennore southeast coast of India

•The observed lattice fringes display indicates that the nanoparticles were good crystals.•This is conceivably the first report on the anticancer activity of Ag NPs synthesized by marine E. coli VM1.•The observed results indubitably supports that Ag NPs synthesized by marine E. coli give new hope as anticancer agents. In the present investigation, the bacterium Escherichia coli (VM1) was isolated from a marine sediments of Ennore coastal water along southeast coast of India was exploited for its capability of Ag NPs synthesis. The derived nanoparticles were characterized employing ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) studies. The Ag NPs were further subjected to MTT assay to evaluate their anticancer activity against human lung cancer cell line (A549), human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) and normal (Vero) cell line. The marine E. coli (VM1) synthesized silver nanoparticles exhibited considerable cytotoxic influence against human cancer cell lines, thereby suggesting that they have tremendous potential as effective anticancer agents.