Nanoshells with Targeted Simultaneous Enhancement of Magnetic and Optical Imaging and Photothermal Therapeutic Response

Abstract

Integrating multiple functionalities into individual nanoscale complexes is of tremendous importance in biomedicine, expanding the capabilities of nanoscale structures to perform multiple parallel tasks. Here, the ability to enhance two different imaging technologies simultaneously—fluorescence optical imaging and magnetic resonance imaging—with antibody targeting and photothermal therapeutic actuation is combined all within the same nanoshell‐based complex. The nanocomplexes are constructed by coating a gold nanoshell with a silica epilayer doped with Fe3O4 and the fluorophore ICG, which results in a high T2 relaxivity (390 mM−1 s−1) and 45× fluorescence enhancement of ICG. Bioconjugate nanocomplexes target HER2+ cells and induce photothermal cell death upon near‐IR illumination.

Gold–silica quantum rattles for multimodal imaging and therapy

“…This slight warming effect was due to the laser and was in good agreement with previous findings on the interaction of light with tissue (37). QR-mediated treatment raised temperatures well above the damage threshold needed to induce irreversible tissue damage (38) with laser dosages fivefold less than those reported in earlier studies for other PTT agents (32,39). The tissue heating levels observed in the HS controls, however, were insufficient to induce damage (38).…”

“…The QRs' design stabilized AuQDs in the biological environment, allowing them to retain their photonic activity and paramagnetism, thereby enabling their use for multimodal imaging and therapy. Many hybrid NP systems are attempting to achieve mutually beneficial effects; however, complex constraints inherent within their design have limited their performance (32,39). Here, all of the components of the QRs act in concert to optimize the multiple tasks at hand: tumor burden reduction, increasing the retention time of a drug payload, and enabling efficient multimodal imaging in vivo.…”

“…Multimodal imaging exploits the advantages of complementary imaging techniques while compensating each other's limitations. By combining optical, magnetic, and photoacoustic imaging (PAI), the QRs can offer high spatial resolution in three dimensions (MRI and PAI), excellent contrast between soft tissues (MRI), high sensitivity (fluorescent imaging, FLI), and high temporal resolution (within seconds) at low cost (FLI), as well as the ability to image across a range of scales (millimeter to hundreds of microns for MRI and PAI respectively) (13,32,33).…”

Formation of Variously Shaped Gold Nanoparticles by Anabaena laxa

“…The adsorption of nearinfrared radiation by tissues is relatively low; therefore, the region between 800 nm and 1300 nm can be used for medicinal diagnostics. Due to this, metallic nanoparticles of various shapes may be used as contrast agents [17] in photothermal cancer therapy [18] and as nanocarriers for drug or gene delivery [19,20].…”

Modulation of G protein-coupled adenosine receptors by strategically functionalized agonists and antagonists immobilized on gold nanoparticles

“…The cargo of the AuNPs may also be cytotoxic agents, for example in cancer chemotherapy, or other moieties for altering the fate of the particle in vivo or altering its ability to cross cell membranes [8]. A particularly clever application of AuNP conjugates is in thermoablation of tumor tissue by Au nanoshells, which are concentrated in the diseased tissue followed by irradiation to elevate the temperature [9]. AuNPs were used to interrogate the mechanistic pathways involved in killing cancer cells [10].…”