Gas-phase self-assembly of soft nanocomposites for efficient gene transfection and photothermal therapy

915 nm Light‐Triggered Photodynamic Therapy and MR/CT Dual‐Modal Imaging of Tumor Based on the Nonstoichiometric Na0.52YbF3.52:Er Upconversion Nanoprobes

“…have been prepared for potential multifunctional bioprobing applications, but often involve complicated synthesis processes and cause the enlargement of the original sizes of the NPs . To realize efficient assembly of these different function modalities at the nanoscale, it usually requires the development of novel synthesis strategies, such as gas‐phase self‐assembly method, as the complementary techniques to the wet chemistry methods . As will be discussed later, the Na 0.52 YbF 3.52 :Er@SrF 2 UCNPs exhibit excellent MR/CT imaging and red UC emission properties simultaneously, which can be applied for cancer theranostics without the assistance of other function modalities.…”

“…[ 31 ] To realize effi cient assembly of these different function modalities at the nanoscale, it usually requires the development of novel synthesis strategies, such as gas-phase self-assembly method, as the complementary techniques to the wet chemistry methods. [32][33][34] As will be discussed later, the Na 0.52 YbF 3.52 :Er@SrF 2 UCNPs exhibit excellent MR/CT imaging and red UC emission properties simultaneously, which can be applied for cancer theranostics without the assistance of other function modalities. The multifunctional Na 0.52 YbF 3.52 :Er@SrF 2 UCNPs with relatively small size can be prepared using simple wet chemistry methods, which thus may be of helpful for their further applications as bioprobes.…”

Utilising inorganic nanocarriers for gene delivery

“…37 Gasphase self-assembly was used to synthesize biocompatible Au@PDMS-PLL soft nanocomposites which can be used for gene delivery and also photothermal therapy. 38 Shan et al reported a new gene delivery vector based on dendrimer-entrapped gold nanoparticles (Au DENPs) with significantly higher gene transfection efficiency than that of dendrimers without AuNPs entrapped due to the fact that the entrapment of AuNPs helps preserve the 3dimensional spherical morphology of dendrimers, allowing for more efficient interaction between dendrimers and DNA. 39 Kong et al recently reported the use of arginine-glycineaspartic (RGD) peptide-modified Au DENPs for highly efficient and specific gene delivery to stem cells.…”

Aerosol Nanoencapsulation: Single-Pass Floating Self-Assembly of Biofunctional Hybrid Nanoplatforms

“…21 This study introduces a single-pass, low-temperature aerosol nanoencapsulation method for preparing multibiofunctional nanoplatforms consisting of a hard NP (silica, SiO 2 ; calcium carbonate, CaCO 3 ; Au-decorated graphene oxide, AuG; or thiol-capped Au, AuT) as the core and a modified-polymer (MP; cholesterol-chitosan linked with PEI) as the shell. To enhance the delivery of drugs, genes, vaccines, and tracing agents into target cells, polymer-incorporated SiO 2 , 22 CaCO 3 , 23 Au, 24 graphene, 25 and thiol 26 nanoplatforms have been employed. In one recent study, MP was chosen, because it has an enhanced cationic charge with low toxicity and high affinity to hard NPs 12 and has been aerosolized to enhance the performance of gene delivery into mammalian cells without using multiple wet chemical processes.…”