Gold nanomaterials are immerging candidates in medical diagnosis and treatment.Among them,gold nanorods(Au NRs)are widely used for cancer treatment.Tiopronin as a novel thiol drug was used to stabilize Au NRs in this work.Doxorubicin(DOX),a chemotherapeutic drug which works by interacting with DNA to arrest the cell cycle and induce apoptosis,was linked to Au NRs through electrostatic reaction with tiopronin,to obtain Au-TIOP-DOX NRs.Au NRs are also regarded as hyperthermia agents for photothermal cancer treatment.This delivery system(Au-TIOP-DOX NRs)was designed for passively targeting tumor cells in cancer therapy.More importantly,the carboxyl groups of tiopronin can be modified with some biological molecules(DNA/RNA,peptides,or drugs)to make Au NRs as a novel drug-delivery system for cancer treatment.
HUO ShuaiDongJIN ShuBinZHENG KaiYuanHE ShengTaiWANG DongLiangLIANG XingJie
In the fight against cancer, controlled drug delivery systems have emerged to enhance the therapeutic efficacy and safety of anti-cancer drugs. Among these systems, mesoporous silica nanoparticles （MSNs） with a functional surface possess obvious advantages and were thus rapidly developed for cancer treatment. Many stimuli-responsive materials, such as nanopartides, polymers, and inorganic materials, have been applied as caps and gatekeepers to control drug release from MSNs. This review presents an overview of the recent progress in the production of pH-responsive MSNs based on the pH gradient between normal tissues and the tumor microenvironment. Four main categories of gatekeepers can respond to acidic conditions. These categories will be described in detail.
Fluorescent metal nanoclusters(NCs)have received extensive attention for their potential uses in bionanotechnology.Here,we develop a facile strategy to synthesize near-infrared fluorescent silver nanoclusters(Ag NCs)stabilized by MUC1 aptamer.The MUC1-Ag NCs are characterized by UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy,fluorescence spectroscopy,transmission electron microscopy,and fluorescence lifetime.These results indicated that the MUC1-Ag NCs possess bright near-infrared luminescence,high stability,and excellent biocompatibility.The cellular imaging of MUC1-Ag NCs by confocal laser microscopy demonstrated them to be promising candidates as novel fluorescent probes for biomedical application.
Unique physicochemical properties of Au nanomaterials make them potential star materials in biomedicalapplications. However, we still know a little about the basic problem of what really mattersin fabrication of Au nanomaterials which can get into biological systems, especially cells, with highefficiency. An understanding of how the physicochemical properties of Au nanomaterials affecttheir cell internalization is of significant interest. Studies devoted to clarify the functions of variousproperties of Au nanostructures such as size, shape and kinds of surface characteristics in cell internalizationare under way. These fundamental investigations will give us a foundation for constructingAu nanomaterial-based biomedical devices in the future. In this review, we present the current advancesand rationales in study of the relationship between the physicochemical properties of Aunanomaterials and cell uptake. We also provide a perspective on the Au nanomaterial-cell interactionresearch.
