One Stone, Three Birds: Multifunctional Nanodots as “Pilot Light” for Guiding Surgery, Enhanced Radiotherapy, and Brachytherapy of Tumors

Abstract

Surgery, radiotherapy (RT), and brachytherapy are crucial treatments for localized deep tumors. However, imprecise tumor location often leads to issues such as positive surgical margins, extended radiotherapy target volumes, and radiation damage to healthy tissues. Reducing side effects in healthy tissue and enhancing RT efficacy are critical challenges. To address these issues, we developed a multifunctional theranostic platform using Au/Ag nanodots (Au/AgNDs) that act as a “pilot light” for real-time guided surgery, high-efficiency RT, and brachytherapy, achieving a strategy of killing three birds with one stone. First, dual-mode imaging of Au/AgNDs enabled precision RT, minimizing damage to adjacent normal tissue during X-ray irradiation. Au/AgNDs enhanced ionizing radiation energy deposition, increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, regulated the cell cycle, promoted DNA damage formation, and inhibited DNA repair in tumor cells, significantly improving RT efficacy. Second, in brachytherapy, precise guidance provided by dual-mode imaging addressed challenges related to non-visualization of existing interstitial brachytherapy and multiple adjustments of insertion needle positions. Meanwhile, the effect of brachytherapy was improved. Third, the excellent fluorescence imaging of Au/AgNDs accurately distinguished tumors from normal tissue, facilitating their use as a powerful tool for assisting surgeons during tumor resection. Taken together, our multifunctional theranostic platform offers real-time guidance for surgery and high-efficiency RT, and improves brachytherapy precision, providing a novel strategy and vision for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Advancing Spinal Cord Injury Bioimaging and Repair with Multifunctional Gold Nanodots Tracking

“…In the Au 4f spectrum, the peaks observed at 88.7 and 85.0 eV confirm the presence of both Au (0) and Au (I) states in the AuNDs (Figure 2e). 41,44 The presence of Au (0) facilitates the nucleation of nanodots, while Au (I) forms stable metal-sulfhydryl (Au−S) covalent bonds with the ligand. The stable binding of the Au−S bonds enables continuous energy transfer between the ligand and metal, resulting in stable and bright fluorescent properties of the AuNDs.…”

“…Moreover, AuNPs exhibit excellent optical properties and possess a high X-ray attenuation coefficient (at 100 keV, Au 5.16 cm 2 /g, I 1.94 cm 2 /g), making them suitable for FL and CT imaging. 41 Leveraging these imaging capabilities enables the timely and accurate identification of SCI sites, facilitating real-time visual monitoring of spinal cord integrity during surgical interventions. In summary, AuNPs hold tremendous promise for both the diagnosis and the treatment of SCI.…”

“…These characteristics led us to speculate that AuNPs could facilitate functional recovery after SCI by mitigating oxidative stress. Moreover, AuNPs exhibit excellent optical properties and possess a high X-ray attenuation coefficient (at 100 keV, Au 5.16 cm 2 /g, I 1.94 cm 2 /g), making them suitable for FL and CT imaging . Leveraging these imaging capabilities enables the timely and accurate identification of SCI sites, facilitating real-time visual monitoring of spinal cord integrity during surgical interventions.…”

Classification and application of metal-based nanoantioxidants in medicine and healthcare

“…In this system, the CeO 2 nanozyme with the ability to generate the cycle of redox reactions continuously provides a significant amount of O 2 for assisting cancer treatments. Recently, Wang et al developed multifunctional Au/Ag nanodots (Au/AgNDs) as “pilot light” for real-time guided surgery ( Figure 5 ) [ 170 ]. The authors proved that Au/AgNDs enhanced the deposition of ionizing radiation energy, increased intracellular ROS generation, and significantly improved radiotherapy efficacy.…”

“…Fluorescence image (control group), FL image of the subcutaneous HeLa tumor-bearing nude mice model post injection of Au/AgNDs, and FL imaging-guided surgical removal of tumor. Figure 5 was adapted from [ 170 ] (© 2023 Z. Wang et al, published by American Chemical Society, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 ).…”