This paper describes how in vitro efficacy of aptamer-loaded gold nanostars (Apt-AuNS) can be enhanced by the increased loading of a G-quadruplex homodimer AS1411 (Apt) on the AuNS surface. In a low pH buffer environment, the loading density of Apt on AuNS was increased up to 2.5 times that obtained using the conventional salt-aging process. These highly loaded AuNS nanoconstructs (*Apt-AuNS) were taken up in pancreatic cancer and fibrosarcoma cells ca. 2 times more and at faster rates compared to Apt-AuNS. When a similar number of AuNS carriers was internalized by the cancer cells, the amount of AS1411 delivered via *Apt-AuNS was effectively double that of Apt-AuNS, and *Apt-AuNS resulted in an average of 42% increase in cell death. These results suggest that increasing the loading density on AuNS could provide a simple means to improve uptake as well as in vitro efficacy of the nanoconstructs in cancer cells.

This paper describes how pH can be used to control covalent attachment of oligonucleotides with secondary structure on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The highest loading of thiolated nucleic acids occurred at low pH (pH = 1.7) due to reduced repulsion between the negatively charged oligonucleotides and the AuNP surface. The packing of oligonucleotides at low pH decreased (single-stranded ≫ duplex > quadruplex) as the spatial footprint of secondary structure increased. As the pH increased, a decrease in the number of DNA strands grafted to the AuNPs was observed. Notably, the loading density depended on the flexibility and spatial organization of the secondary structures at all pH conditions. At the lowest pH tested, circular dichroism analysis revealed that G-quadruplex aptamers underwent a structural change (from parallel to antiparallel or vice versa), although the biological activity of the aptamer-loaded AuNPs was still maintained. We anticipate that pH-tuning can result in quantitative loading of oligonucleotides on various types of AuNPs with different shapes and surface capping layers.