Spatiotemporal Temperature Distribution and Cancer Cell Death in Response to Extracellular Hyperthermia Induced by Gold Nanorods

Abstract

Plasmonic nanoparticles have shown promise in hyperthermic cancer therapy, both in vitro and in vivo. Previous reports have described hyperthermic ablation using targeted and non-targeted nanoparticles internalized by cancer cells, but most reports do not describe a theoretical analysis for determining optimal parameters. The focus of the current research was first to evaluate the spatiotemporal temperature distribution and cell death induced by extracellular hyperthermia in which gold nanorods (GNRs) were maintained in the dispersion outside human prostate cancer cells. The nanorod dispersion was irradiated with near infrared (NIR) laser and the spatiotemporal distribution of temperature was determined experimentally. This information was employed to develop and validate theoretical models of spatiotemporal temperature profiles for gold nanorod dispersions undergoing laser irradiation, and the impact of the resulting heat generation on the viability of human prostate cancer cells. A cell injury/death model was then coupled to the heat transfer model to predict spatial and temporal variations in cell death and injury. The model predictions agreed well with experimental measurements of both, temperature and cell death profiles. Finally, the model was extended to examine the impact of selective binding of gold nanorods to cancer cells compared to non-malignant cells, coupled with a small change in cell injury activation energy. The impact of these relatively minor changes results in a dramatic change in the overall cell death rate. Taken together, extracellular hyperthermia using gold nanorods is a promising strategy and tailoring the cellular binding efficacy of nanorods can result in varying therapeutic efficacies using this approach.

Prostate-specific membrane antigen–directed nanoparticle targeting for extreme nearfield ablation of prostate cancer cells

“…Nevertheless, many of these models, even if they are targeted toward specific tumor mass, may face challenges in confining heat production at the very local levels; studies show that during the photothermal treatments of the cells using the nanoparticles, the temperature of the entire field is raised by a significant amount. [48][49][50][51] This could raise serious concerns about damage upon nearby, non-targeted tissue as the entire field is being affected. Our method tries to overcome this drawback by promoting target-specific attachment of the nanoparticle products to the tumor: This had led to dramatic reduction in overall heat generation of the field (Figure 5), while producing enough thermal energy at proximity to the target to induce sufficient damage on the tumor while minimizing temperature change.…”

Nd3+ doped LaF3 nanoparticles as self-monitored photo-thermal agents

“…Up to now, several PhT-NPs have been proposed including metallic nanoparticles, semiconductor nanocrystals, graphene nanocrystals, and carbon nanotubes. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Few previous works have also reported that certain rare earth doped nano-crystals (RE-NPs) could be also used as PhT-NPs, although this possibility has not been demonstrated yet in biocompatible colloidal solutions. 29 Certain RE-NPs have demonstrated to be highly efficient luminescence probes under excitation with Near Infrared (NIR) radiation within the biological windows.…”

Variation of Protein Corona Composition of Gold Nanoparticles Following Plasmonic Heating

“…Local heating zones with higher temperature near the AuNR will likely persist, however, over the full course of our photoinduced thermal activation period. 20,21 Accordingly, even from very early heating times, the proteins adsorbed to the AuNR surface may experience very different solution temperatures than free proteins during photoinduced thermal treatments. Because of the thermal gradient in solution that results from photoinduced heating of the AuNRs, any given protein (e.g., apolipoproteins) may have different conformations depending on whether the proteins are adsorbed on the AuNR surface or are located a few hundred nanometers from the surface of laser activated nanorods.…”