Light-Activatable Gold Nanoshells for Drug Delivery Applications

Light-Activatable Gold Nanoshells for Drug Delivery Applications

Singhana B; Slattery P; Chen A; Wallace M; Melancon M P

Aaps Pharmscitech

2014

2014-06

Gold nanoshells (AuNSs) are currently being investigated as nanocarriers for drug delivery systems and have both diagnostic and therapeutic applications, including photothermal ablation, hyperthermia, drug delivery, and diagnostic imaging, particularly in oncology. AuNSs are valuable for their localized surface plasmon resonance, biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, and facile functionalization. AuNSs used for drug delivery can be spatially and temporally triggered to release controlled quantities of drugs inside the target cells when illuminated with a near-infrared (NIR) laser. Recently, many research groups have demonstrated that these AuNS complexes are able to deliver antitumor drugs (e.g., doxorubicin, paclitaxel, small interfering RNA, and single-stranded DNA) into cancer cells, which enhances the efficacy of treatment. AuNSs can also be functionalized with active targeting ligands such as antibodies, aptamers, and peptides to increase the particles' specific binding to the desired targets. This article reviews the current research on NIR light-activatable AuNSs used as nanocarriers for drug delivery systems and cancer theranostics.

cancer nanotheranostics; drug delivery; gold nanoshells; growth-factor receptor; in-vitro; nanocarrier; nanoparticles; nf-kappa-b; Pharmacology & Pharmacy; photothermal-chemotherapy; release; surface-plasmon resonance; targeted delivery; theranostics; thermal therapy; triggered; triggered release

Journal Article

Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

741-752

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