A Plasmonic Gold Nanostar Theranostic Probe for In Vivo Tumor Imaging and Photothermal Therapy

Abstract

Nanomedicine has attracted increasing attention in recent years, because it offers great promise to provide personalized diagnostics and therapy with improved treatment efficacy and specificity. In this study, we developed a gold nanostar (GNS) probe for multi-modality theranostics including surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection, x-ray computed tomography (CT), two-photon luminescence (TPL) imaging, and photothermal therapy (PTT). We performed radiolabeling, as well as CT and optical imaging, to investigate the GNS probe's biodistribution and intratumoral uptake at both macroscopic and microscopic scales. We also characterized the performance of the GNS nanoprobe for in vitro photothermal heating and in vivo photothermal ablation of primary sarcomas in mice. The results showed that 30-nm GNS have higher tumor uptake, as well as deeper penetration into tumor interstitial space compared to 60-nm GNS. In addition, we found that a higher injection dose of GNS can increase the percentage of tumor uptake. We also demonstrated the GNS probe's superior photothermal conversion efficiency with a highly concentrated heating effect due to a tip-enhanced plasmonic effect. In vivo photothermal therapy with a near-infrared (NIR) laser under the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) led to ablation of aggressive tumors containing GNS, but had no effect in the absence of GNS. This multifunctional GNS probe has the potential to be used for in vivo biosensing, preoperative CT imaging, intraoperative detection with optical methods (SERS and TPL), as well as image-guided photothermal therapy.

Gold nanostars for efficient in vitro and in vivo real-time SERS detection and drug delivery via plasmonic-tunable Raman/FTIR imaging

“…13,37 Thus, gold nanostars are unique materials with an intense surface plasmon band that affords absorption in the near-infrared region. [21][22][23][24][25][26] with MTX-nanostars during 48 hours of incubation using the Perkin Elmer Spotlight 400 system for the FTIR and the LabRAM HR Evolution spectrometer for the SERS maps.…”

“…16 Gold nanostars, star-shaped gold nanoparticles, have exceptional optical properties. [17][18][19][20] They display two surface plasmon bands consistent to the transverse and longitudinal surface plasmon bands in the visible (520 nm) and the near-infrared regions, respectively 15 Thus, gold nanostars are special materials with an intense surface plasmon band that affords absorption, fluorescence [21][22][23] and light scattering 24,25 in the near-infrared region, inducing two-photon luminescence phenomena. 26 Hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) is a common material for gold nanostar synthesis.…”

From gold nanoparticles to luminescent nano-objects: experimental aspects for better gold-chromophore interactions

“…Within the large spectrum of gold nanostructures, numerous reports describe the intrinsic luminescence properties of such systems [106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114]. This interesting feature is a great alternative with regard to light scattering measurements [7,115], especially for biological or clinical applications with an easier detection and localization of these particles.…”

What Potential Does plasmonics-amplified Synergistic Immuno Photothermal Nanotherapy have for Treatment of cancer?

“…GNS are exceptional light 'nano-enhancers' that have led to a wide range of chemical, biological and medical (both diagnostic and therapeutic) applications. For example, GNS exhibit intense surface-enhanced Raman scattering and two-photon luminescence and therefore provide an exceptional platform for nucleic acid biomarker detection [13,17], stem cell tracking [25,26] and tumor bioimaging [18,19].…”

“…A special type of metallic nanoparticles, called 'plasmonic' nanoparticles, has received great interest because they exhibit enhanced optical and electromagnetic properties. Our fundamental studies of various plasmonic structures [8][9][10] and applied development of plasmonic nanoplatforms have led to a wide variety of applications ranging from chemical sensing [10][11][12] to cancer diagnostics [13][14][15][16][17] and therapy using nanoparticle-mediated photothermal treatment [15,[18][19][20]. Recently, we demonstrated that the use of plasmonic gold nanostars (GNS) in combination with immunotherapy -a treatment we referred to as Synergistic Immuno Photothermal Nanotherapy (SYMPHONY) -can dramatically enhance the efficacy of immunotherapy.…”