Gold nanoparticles applications: from artificial enzyme till drug delivery

Abstract

Today, nano-medicine promotes new therapeutics and diagnostics tools, including sensing of biomolecules as a biosensor, cancer chemotherapy and drug or gene delivery. Because of small size and biocompatibility of gold nanoparticles (GNPs), they become a good candidate for biological application. Also, thanks to their biological and chemical properties, they can mimic function of some enzymes including super oxide dismutase (SOD), esterase, etc. Also, biomaterials and bioengineering have grown so fast since the last decade for many therapeutic applications such as tissue regeneration. Among these cutting edge technology, nanomaterials find the way to becoming a very powerful tool for using in many fields of researchers including biosensing, gene therapy and chemotherapy. In this review, we focused on some biological applications of GNPs in biology and medicine.

A PCR-lateral flow assay system based on gold magnetic nanoparticles for CYP2C19 genotyping and its clinical applications

“…Gold magnetic nanoparticles are Fe 3 O 4 /Au/Fe 3 O 4 composite particles with significantly elevated stableness and compatibility for biological interactions [16,17]. It shows great potential for serving as diagnostic or therapeutic agents in a variety of medical fields [18][19][20]. In a previous study, our laboratory established a novel lateral flow assay (LFA) system assembled with GMNPs for the visual detection of MTHFR C677T polymorphism which relies on the hybridization reaction on test line [21].…”

<p>A review of small molecules and drug delivery applications using gold and iron nanoparticles</p>

“…Metallic colloidal Au-NPs can be fabricated in various forms (dots, rods, etc) and are commercially available in different size ranges and are detectable at low concentrations. 15 NPs can easily enter cells; however, the involved mechanism(s) are not well understood. It is thought that the NP influx occurs by endocytosis, where the particles are inserted and diffuse through the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane.…”

Using gold nanoparticles in diagnosis and treatment of melanoma cancer

“…Another clinical benefit of AuNP refers to immunological properties of these particles. This immunological characteristic of AuNP is related to its colloidal and physicochemical nature especially in relation to its potential to induce production or inhibition of some antibodies [71,72].…”