Design, fabrication and characteristics of novel theranostics for cancer

Abstract

Despite the considerable advances in the biomedical field, cancer still remains a major cause for human deaths. The distinctive structural and functional features of nanomaterials have led to their increasing applications as anti-cancer nanotechnologies for diagnosis, imaging, and therapy. Developing and utilizing theranostics, which integrate diagnostic and therapeutic moieties in a single, nano-sized physical entity to perform detection, imaging and treatment functions, are revolutionizing cancer oncology. To achieve multiple functions, different types of nanostructures can be integrated into a single nanodevice in which each individual component performs its function and moreover new synergistic effects may be generated. The design of theranostics strongly depends on the targeted multiple functions as well as their final application. In general, there are two approaches to incorporate a diagnostic or therapeutic agent in a nanoparticle: it is stuck to the surface of a solid nanoparticle (noble metal, metal oxide, silica, carbon nanotube, quantum dot, etc.), or it is encapsulated in a (porous) nanostructure (polymer, mesoporous silica, micelle, liposome, etc.). Therefore, hybrid, dumbbell, core-satellite, core-shell, yolk-shell, and Janus structured nanoparticles are investigated for new theranostics. There are two strategies to fabricate multifunctional nanoparticles. The first, molecular functionalization, involves attaching antibodies, peptide proteins, dyes, etc. to pre-synthesized nanoparticles. The other strategy opts for integrating different types of nanocomponents into a single nanoparticle through one-spot synthesis. Due to their unique optical properties together with biocompatibility and facile synthesis, gold nanoparticles are excellent substrates for constructing novel theranostics. They can scatter light with extraordinary efficiency, thereby providing sufficient contrast in biomedical imaging. Their surface plasmon resonance effect empowers them for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection with high sensitivity. In our research, using gold nanorods, highly branched gold nanoparticles and gold-silver hybrids, different types of multifunctional theranostics with different structures and core functions were designed and fabricated and their performance in cancer targeting, imaging and treatment was investigated. This presentation will present our investigations on theranostics based on metal-polymer nanoparticles, metal-mesoporous silica core-shell nanoparticles, metal-silica shell-metal satellite nanoparticles, metal-hollow silica yolk-shell nanoparticles, silica-metal core-metal satellite nanoparticles, etc. Anticancer drugs or plasmids could be encapsulated in polymer shell or mesoporous silica. Photothermal therapy, chemotherapy, gene therapy and combined therapy could be achieved by these theranostics.