Gold nanoparticles exhibit very unique physiochemical and optical properties, which now are extensively studied in range of medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In particular, gold nanoparticles show promise in the advancement of cancer treatments. This review will provide insights into the four different cancer treatments such as photothermal therapy, gold nanoparticle-aided photodynamic therapy, gold nanoparticle-aided radiation therapy, and their use as drug carrier. We also discuss the mechanism of every method and the adverse effects and its limitations.

The different death pathways of cancer cells under the conditions of the photothermal (PT), effect, photodynamic (PD) effect, and their combination are evaluated. By incubating cells with Au nanoring (NRI) either linked with the photosensitizer, AlPcS, or not, the illumination of a visible continuous laser for exciting the photosensitizer or an infrared femtosecond laser for exciting the localized surface plasmon resonance of Au NRI, leads to various PT and PD conditions for study. Three different staining dyes are used for identifying the cell areas of different damage conditions at different temporal points of observation. The cell death pathways and apoptotic evolution speeds under different cell treatment conditions are evaluated based on the calibration of the threshold laser fluences for causing early-apoptosis (EA) and necrosis (NE) or late-apoptosis (LA). It is found that with the PT effect only, strong cell NE is generated and the transition from EA into LA is faster than that caused by the PD effect when the EA stage is reached within 0.5 h after laser illumination. By combining the PT and PD effects, in the first few hours, the transition speed becomes lower, compared to the case of the PT effect only, when both Au NRIs internalized into cells and adsorbed on cell membrane exist. When the Au NRIs on cell membrane is removed, in the first few hours, the transition speed becomes higher, compared to the case of the PD effect only.

Fluorescent gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) with excellent one-photon and multiphoton properties have been demonstrated as promising candidates in many application fields. However, small multiphoton absorption (MPA) cross sections and weak multiphoton excitation (MPE) fluorescence impede their practical applications under near-infrared (NIR) excitation for biological imaging. Here, we report the regulated one-photon and multiphoton properties and mechanisms of arginine-stabilized 6-aza-2-thiothymine Au NCs (Arg/ATT-Au NCs) and the applications for MPE fluorescence imaging. The introduction of arginine into the capping layer of ATT-Au NCs significantly modifies the electronic structure, the absorption cross sections, and the relaxation dynamics of the lowest excited state, drastically reducing the nonradiative relaxation, suppressing the blinking, and greatly enhancing the fluorescence. Besides the improved one-photon properties, Arg/ATT-Au NCs demonstrate remarkable MPE fluorescence with a large MPA cross section. The two-photon (λex = 850 nm), three-photon (λex = 1400 nm), and four-photon (λex = 1700 nm) absorption cross sections have been determined to be 6.1 × 10–47 cm4 s1 photon–1, 1.5 × 10–78 cm6 s2 photon–2, and 5.5 × 10–108 cm8 s3 photon–3, respectively, much higher than those of conventional organic compounds and previously reported Au NCs. Moreover, Arg/ATT-Au NCs have been successfully applied in two-photon and three-photon excitation fluorescence imaging of living cells with NIR excitation. The manifold advantages of small size, high quantum yield, suppressed blinking, good photostability and cytocompatibility, large MPA cross sections, and excellent MPE fluorescence imaging performances make fluorescent Arg/ATT-Au NCs a great candidate of imaging probes with vis–NIR excitation.