Jumping on the Bandwagon: A Review on the Versatile Applications of Gold Nanostructures in Prostate Cancer

Abstract

Prostate cancer (PCa) has remarkably emerged as a prominent disease in the face of the male population. Conventional treatments like prostatectomy or radiation can be curative only if PCa is diagnosed at an early stage. In the field of targeted therapy, a bevy of novel therapeutic approaches have left a landmark in PCa treatment and have proven to extend survival via distinct modes of actions. Nanotherapy has started to take root and has become the hype of the century by virtue of its abundant advantages. Scientists have invested a great deal of interest in the development of nanostructures such as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), which hold particularly great hope for PCa theranostics. In this article, we present an overview of the studies published after 1998 that involve the use of different functionalized AuNPs to treat and diagnose PCa. Special reference is given to various in vitro and in vivo methods employed to shuttle AuNPs to PCa cells. Major studies show an enhancement of either detection or treatment of PCa when compared to their non-targeted counterparts, especially when AuNPs are tagged with specific ligands, such as antibodies, tea natural extracts, folate, anisamide, receptor inhibitors, and chitosan. Future approaches of treatment are dependent on those worthy multifunctional molecules, and are dictated by their ability to achieve a more versatile cancer therapeutic approach.

Surface‐functionalised hybrid nanoparticles for targeted treatment of cancer

“…Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men and it arises in the prostate gland that is attached firmly to the base of the bladder and has a vital role in the production and secretion of prostate fluid [93, 94]. In 2018, a total of 1,276,106 new cases and 358,989 fatalities from this malignant disorder are calculated to take place worldwide [95].…”

D2B-Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles: Promising Vehicles for Targeted Drug Delivery to Prostate Cancer

“…A spectrum of D2B nanocarriers exists, such as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs-TR-SH-D2B-PEG), carbon nanohorns (f11-CNHs), pegylated radioimmunoconjugates ( 223 RaA-silane-PEG-D2B), and chitosan NPs (CS-D2B) . AuNPs demonstrated significant translational applications in cancer therapy − including PC due to their small size, biocompatibility, and optimum biodistribution in vivo . Furthermore, the strong affinity of AuNPs for the amino, phosphate, and thiol groups of numerous molecular probes facilitates the accommodation of large payloads. , However, previous studies either combined AuNPs with other NP types or relied on laser ablation, thiolation, PEGylation, or more complex synthesis methods to generate D2B-NPs, including AuNPs .…”