Biosynthesis of flower-shaped Au nanoclusters with EGCG and their application for drug delivery

Abstract

BackgroundIn the last decade, the biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles using organisms have received more and more considerations. However, the complex composition of organisms adds up to a great barrier for the characterization of biomolecules involved in the synthesis process and their biological mechanisms.ResultsIn this research, we biosynthesized a kind of flower-shaped Au nanoclusters (Au NCs) using one definite component—epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which was the main biomolecules of green tea polyphenols. Possessing good stability for 6 weeks and a size of 50 nm, the Au NCs might be a successful candidate for drug delivery. Hence, both methotrexate (MTX) and doxorubicin (DOX) were conjugated to the Au NCs through a bridge of cysteine (Cys). The introduction of MTX provided good targeting property for the Au NCs, and the conjugation of DOX provided good synergistic effect. Then, a novel kind of dual-drug loaded, tumor-targeted and highly efficient drug delivery system (Au-Cys-MTX/DOX NCs) for combination therapy was successfully prepared. The TEM of HeLa cells incubated with Au-Cys-MTX/DOX NCs indicated that the Au-Cys-MTX/DOX NCs could indeed enter and kill cancer cells. The Au-Cys-MTX/DOX NCs also possessed good targeting effect to the FA-receptors-overpressed cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, the Au-Cys-MTX/DOX NCs resulted in an excellent anticancer activity in vivo with negligible side effects.ConclusionsThese results suggest that the biosynthesized Au-Cys-MTX/DOX NCs could be a potential carrier with highly efficient anticancer properties for tumor-targeted drug delivery.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12951-018-0417-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Dual Drug Loaded, pH-Sensitive Metal-Organic Particles for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

“…The combination candidates with non-overlapping toxicity were selected to avoid severe side effects ( Wu et al, 2015 ; Yang et al, 2017 ; Shen et al, 2018 ). Nanoparticle drug delivery systems (NDDSs) were always employed to further enhance the synergistic effect and reduce toxicity ( Wu et al, 2018 ; Li et al, 2020 ; Zheng et al, 2021 ). However, relatively higher toxicity than monotherapy was hardly avoided in the treatment.…”

Synthesis and Antitumor Application of Antiangiogenetic Gold Nanoclusters

“…Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) consist of several to dozens of gold atoms with ligand molecules such as protein, peptide, and other biomacromolecules and exhibit good water solubility, satisfying biocompatibility, and excellent luminous performance. − In addition, using bioactive template molecules, AuNCs can be directly synthesized, realizing a one-step synthesis of multifunctional nanoparticles. − As reported, the AuNCs have a wide range of applications, − such as being biomarkers and in imaging, drug delivery, photodynamic therapy, and so on.…”

Synthesis of 7, 8 –dihydroxyflavone functionalized gold nanoparticles and its mechanism of action against Leishmania donovani

“…Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are the most widely studied metal NPs because of their contribution to various applications [1]. Due to ease of surface modi cation and biocompatibility, GNPs emerge as an attractive candidate for delivering small molecules [2], antimicrobial agents [3], peptides [4], proteins [5] and nucleic acids [6] to their targets. GNP-based drug delivery is popular due to the ease of GNPs functionalization with antimicrobial agents, biological or chemical methods of synthesis, controlled drug delivery, and multiple-targets of biological action with their ability to penetrate biological membranes.…”