Photochemically prepared monodisperse gold nanoparticles as doxorubicin carrier and its cytotoxicity on leukemia cancer cells

Gold Nanoparticles Contact with Cancer Cell: A Brief Update

The fine-tuning of the physicochemical properties of gold nanoparticles has facilitated the rapid development of multifunctional gold-based nanomaterials with diagnostic, therapeutic, and therapeutic applications. Work on gold nanoparticles is increasingly focusing on their cancer application. This review provides a summary of the main biological effects exerted by gold nanoparticles on cancer cells and highlights some critical factors involved in the interaction process (protein corona, tumor microenvironment, surface functionalization). The review also contains a brief discussion of the application of gold nanoparticles in target discovery.

Theranostic Potentials of Gold Nanomaterials in Hematological Malignancies

Simple Summary

Hematological malignancies (HMs) cover 50% of all malignancies, and people of all ages can be affected by these deadly diseases. In many cases, conventional diagnostic tools fail to diagnose HMs at an early stage, due to heterogeneity and the long-term indolent phase of HMs. Therefore, many patients start their treatment at the late stage of HMs and have poor survival. Gold nanomaterials (GNMs) have shown promise as a cancer theranostic agent. GNMs are 1 nm to 100 nm materials having magnetic resonance and surface-plasmon-resonance properties. GNMs conjugated with antibodies, nucleic acids, peptides, photosensitizers, chemotherapeutic drugs, synthetic-drug candidates, bioactive compounds, and other theranostic biomolecules may enhance the efficacy and efficiency of both traditional and advanced theranostic approaches to combat HMs.

Abstract

Hematological malignancies (HMs) are a heterogeneous group of blood neoplasia generally characterized by abnormal blood-cell production. Detection of HMs-specific molecular biomarkers (e.g., surface antigens, nucleic acid, and proteomic biomarkers) is crucial in determining clinical states and monitoring disease progression. Early diagnosis of HMs, followed by an effective treatment, can remarkably extend overall survival of patients. However, traditional and advanced HMs’ diagnostic strategies still lack selectivity and sensitivity. More importantly, commercially available chemotherapeutic drugs are losing their efficacy due to adverse effects, and many patients develop resistance against these drugs. To overcome these limitations, the development of novel potent and reliable theranostic agents is urgently needed to diagnose and combat HMs at an early stage. Recently, gold nanomaterials (GNMs) have shown promise in the diagnosis and treatment of HMs. Magnetic resonance and the surface-plasmon-resonance properties of GNMs have made them a suitable candidate in the diagnosis of HMs via magnetic-resonance imaging and colorimetric or electrochemical sensing of cancer-specific biomarkers. Furthermore, GNMs-based photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, radiation therapy, and targeted drug delivery enhanced the selectivity and efficacy of anticancer drugs or drug candidates. Therefore, surface-tuned GNMs could be used as sensitive, reliable, and accurate early HMs, metastatic HMs, and MRD-detection tools, as well as selective, potent anticancer agents. However, GNMs may induce endothelial leakage to exacerbate cancer metastasis. Studies using clinical patient samples, patient-derived HMs models, or healthy-animal models could give a precise idea about their theranostic potential as well as biocompatibility. The present review will investigate the theranostic potential of vectorized GNMs in HMs and future challenges before clinical theranostic applications in HMs.

High sensitivity colorimetric determination of L-cysteine using gold nanoparticles functionalized graphene oxide prepared by photochemical reduction method

This study aimed for the development of a cost effective and efficient method for L-cysteine detection, without employing expensive instrumentation within a short analysis time. The proposed method has been involved in the photochemical preparation of gold nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles on graphene oxide nanostructures. The gold nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles on graphene oxide acted as simple and sensitive nano-sensors for L-cysteine, due to the molecular structure of the L-cysteine presented -NH₂ and -SH, which is very attractive for coordination to gold nanoparticles and crosslink gold nanoparticles causing aggregation and color change. By using the gold nanoparticles on graphene oxide as a probe, the colorimetric detection of L-cysteine in a nanomolar order concentration was demonstrated.

Photochemical Synthesis of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles-A Review

Nanomaterials have supported important technological advances due to their unique properties and their applicability in various fields, such as biomedicine, catalysis, environment, energy, and electronics. This has triggered a tremendous increase in their demand. In turn, materials scientists have sought facile methods to produce nanomaterials of desired features, i.e., morphology, composition, colloidal stability, and surface chemistry, as these determine the targeted application. The advent of photoprocesses has enabled the easy, fast, scalable, and cost- and energy-effective production of metallic nanoparticles of controlled properties without the use of harmful reagents or sophisticated equipment. Herein, we overview the synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles via photochemical routes. We extensively discuss the effect of varying the experimental parameters, such as the pH, exposure time, and source of irradiation, the use or not of reductants and surfactants, reagents' nature and concentration, on the outcomes of these noble nanoparticles, namely, their size, shape, and colloidal stability. The hypothetical mechanisms that govern these green processes are discussed whenever available. Finally, we mention their applications and insights for future developments.