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Light-Activatable Gold Nanoshells for Drug Delivery Applications

  • Review Article
  • Theme: Translational Application of Nano Delivery Systems: Emerging Cancer Therapy
  • Published:
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Abstract

Gold nanoshells (AuNSs) are currently being investigated as nanocarriers for drug delivery systems and have both diagnostic and therapeutic applications, including photothermal ablation, hyperthermia, drug delivery, and diagnostic imaging, particularly in oncology. AuNSs are valuable for their localized surface plasmon resonance, biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, and facile functionalization. AuNSs used for drug delivery can be spatially and temporally triggered to release controlled quantities of drugs inside the target cells when illuminated with a near-infrared (NIR) laser. Recently, many research groups have demonstrated that these AuNS complexes are able to deliver antitumor drugs (e.g., doxorubicin, paclitaxel, small interfering RNA, and single-stranded DNA) into cancer cells, which enhances the efficacy of treatment. AuNSs can also be functionalized with active targeting ligands such as antibodies, aptamers, and peptides to increase the particles’ specific binding to the desired targets. This article reviews the current research on NIR light-activatable AuNSs used as nanocarriers for drug delivery systems and cancer theranostics.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Luanne Jorewicz in MD Anderson’s Department of Scientific Publications for editing the manuscript. This work was supported in part by a grant from the John S. Dunn Foundation and by the National Institutes of Health through MD Anderson’s Cancer Center Support Grant CA016672.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Interventional Radiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA

    Burapol Singhana, Michael Wallace & Marites P. Melancon

  2. The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Nakhon Phanom University, Nakhon Phanom, Thailand

    Burapol Singhana

  3. College of Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, USA

    Patrick Slattery

  4. The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

    Aaron Chen

  5. The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

    Marites P. Melancon

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  1. Burapol Singhana
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Correspondence to Marites P. Melancon.

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Guest Editors: Mahavir B. Chougule and Chalet Tan

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Singhana, B., Slattery, P., Chen, A. et al. Light-Activatable Gold Nanoshells for Drug Delivery Applications. AAPS PharmSciTech 15, 741–752 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-014-0097-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-014-0097-8

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