Targetable gold nanorods for epithelial cancer therapy guided by near-IR absorption imaging

Well-designed nanoparticle-mediated, image-guided cancer therapy has attracted interest for increasing the efficacy of cancer treatment. A new class of smart theragnostic nanoprobes employing cetuximab (CET)-conjugated polyethylene glycol (PEG)ylated gold nanorods (CET-PGNRs) is presented; these nanoprobes target epithelial cancer cells using near-infrared light. The cetyltrimethylammonium bromide bilayer on GNRs is replaced with heterobifunctional PEG (COOH-PEG-SH) to serve as a biocompatible stabilizer and to increase specificity. The carboxylated GNRs are further functionalized with CET using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide (EDC-NHS) chemistry. To assess the potential of such GNRs, their optical properties, biocompatibility, colloidal stability, in vitro/in vivo binding affinities for cancer cells, absorption imaging, and photothermal therapy effects are investigated. CET-PGNRs exhibit excellent tumor targeting ability and strong potential for simultaneous absorption imaging and photothermal ablation of epithelial cancer cells. A theragnostic nanoprobe using near-infrared radiation and polyethylene glycol (PEG)ylated gold nanorods (GNRs) conjugated to cetuximab is presetend. The nanoprobe has excellent tumor targeting ability and strong potential for simultaneous absorption imaging and photothermal ablation of epithelial cancer cells.