Gold nanoparticles meet medical radionuclides

Recent Advances in Brachytherapy Using Radioactive Nanoparticles: An Alternative to Seed-Based Brachytherapy

“…Radiolabeling strategy to achieve the maximal radiochemical purity and yield, which reflects specific activity of nanoradiopharmaceuticals Among the different types of nanoparticles, AuNPs and iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) have gained more prominence due to their superior biocompatibility, low toxicity, ease in surface versatile functionalization and radiolabeling with a plethora of imaging, and therapeutic radionuclides towards the development of nanoradiopharmaceuticals for imaging and therapy of cancer. Translational medicine that makes use of nanoradiopharmaceutical agents demonstrates excellent pharmacokinetics in terms of radiochemical production, purity and stability (nanoradioformulation integrity), biodistribution, dosimetry, low off-target localization, and favorable renal clearance profiles, which represent a versatile theranostic tool in cancer management, ranging from nuclear medicine imaging and image-guided surgery to alpha/beta-particle targeted therapy, and most recently targeted nanobrachytherapy (18)(19)(20)(21). The use of targeted nanobrachytherapy through radiolabeled nanoparticles affords intra-or peritumoral administration, thus allowing less invasiveness and homogenizing the radiation dose deposition in the tumor as compared with conventional BT (22).…”

“…The radiolabeling of nanoparticles for medical imaging and therapy has been discussed in-depth in reviews, which are highly recommended for further reading ( 20 ). The most pertinent consideration for radiolabeling nanoparticles is the functionalization with suitable molecular entities to allow for the coordination/conjugation of the radioisotopes achieved through the use of chelators via coordination chemistry approaches ( 19 , 20 , 24 ):…”

“…However, the drawback of radionuclide–BFC coordination complexes is in vivo dissociation due to enzymatic and/or trans-chelating interactions with proteins such as transferrin and ferritin. A successful BFC allows for minimal in vivo dissociation of the radionuclide from the chelator, dependent on the kinetic inertness and thermodynamic stability of the BFC, where polydentate ligands form stable complexes over their monodentate ligands due to the “chelate effect” ( 19 , 20 ). The bioconjugation of BFC to nanoparticles is usually facilitated by functional groups present on the surface of nanoparticles that include amine conjugation (e.g., anhydride, NHS ester, and isothiocyanate), carboxylic acid conjugation (e.g., carbodiimide couplings), thiol conjugation (e.g., maleimide coupling), and click chemistry conjugation (e.g., Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition and inverse electron demand Diels–Alder cycloaddition) to ensure the in vivo inertness of the resulting radiometal complex ( 20 ).…”

Inorganic Radiolabeled Nanomaterials in Cancer Therapy: A Review

“…While other reviews focus either on imaging − or on a particular type of nanomaterial (Au, , C, iron oxide, etc. ), we summarize here the development of radiolabeled inorganic nanomaterials with a therapeutic purpose.…”

Exploiting Ultrashort α,β-Peptides in the Colloidal Stabilization of Gold Nanoparticles

“…Among all the developed nanosystems for pharmaceutical applications, inorganic nanoparticles, as gold nanoparticles (GNPs), represent one of the most appealing nanomaterials. In particular, GNPs, being easy to synthetize and engineer by varying the size and surface composition, , have been found to have wide-ranging applications in nanomedicine, including photothermal therapy, , drug delivery, and vaccine development . Moreover, since the very beginning, GNPs have proven to be powerful and versatile tools , and also a valid alternative to platinum-based anticancer coordination compounds for targeted cancer therapy …”