Latest advances in combining gold nanomaterials with physical stimuli towards new responsive therapeutic and diagnostic strategies

Abstract

Graphical abstract KeywordsGold nanoparticle 1 ; external stimuli; physical stimuli; physically triggered nanomedicine. Quote this article as: Movia D, Benhaddada M, Jolanda Spadavecchia J, Prina-Mello A, Latest advances in combining gold nanomaterials with physical stimuli towards new responsive therapeutic and diagnostic strategies, Precis. Nanomed. 2020 April;3(2):495-524, https://doi. AbstractNanomedicine aims at enhancing treatment efficiency and/or improving diagnostic sensitivity by better controlling several critical parameters, such as tissue targeting and off-target toxicity. More recently, advanced nanomedicine products have been developed to achieve spatially and temporally controlled therapy and diagnosis. This review focuses on gold nanomaterials (AuNMs) and alloy/hybrid AuNMs that can be used in stimuli-responsive strategies for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Endogenous and/or exogenous stimuli can be used as a trigger for such systems. Herein, we focus on those activated by exogenous stimuli. Our review starts from one specific externally activated product, Aurolase®, which recently underwent clinical studies. Further we continue describing a specific physically triggered category, for which the exogeneous stimulus applied induces a structural transformation or modification that is essential for their therapeutic and/or diagnostic action. Gold nanomaterials are grouped both by the nature of the function they exert (therapeutic or diagnostic) and the stimuli class.