MOE Key Laboratory of Laser Life Science & Institute of Laser Life Science, College of Biophotonics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
MOE Key Laboratory of Laser Life Science & Institute of Laser Life Science, College of Biophotonics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
Biomaterials. 2017 Nov;144:95-104. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.08.017. Epub 2017 Aug 16.
Radiotherapy is a leading treatment approach of cancer therapy. While it is effective in killing tumor cells, it can also cause serious damage to surrounding normal tissue. Targeted radiotherapy with gold nanoparticle-based radiosensitizers is actively being investigated, and considered as a promising means to enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy against tumors under a relatively low and safe radiation dose. In this work, we report a green and one-step strategy to synthesize fluorescent gold nanoclusters by using a commercialized cyclic arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (c(RGDyC)) peptide as the template. The nanoclusters inherit special properties of both the Au core (red/NIR fluorescence emission and strong radiosensitizing effect) and c(RGDyC) shell (active cancer cell-targeting ability and good biocompatibility), and can be applied as fluorescent probes to stain αβ integrin-positive cancer cells, as well as radiosensitizing agents to boost the killing efficacy of radiotherapy. Our data suggest that the as-designed gold nanoclusters have excellent biocompatibility, bright red/NIR fluorescence, active tumor targeting property, and strong radiosensitizing effect, making them highly promising towards potential clinical translation.
放射疗法是癌症治疗的主要方法之一。虽然它在杀死肿瘤细胞方面非常有效，但也会对周围正常组织造成严重的损伤。基于金纳米颗粒的放射增敏剂的靶向放射疗法正在积极研究中，被认为是在相对较低和安全的辐射剂量下增强放射疗法对肿瘤疗效的一种有前途的手段。在这项工作中，我们报告了一种绿色的一步法策略，使用商业化的环精氨酸-甘氨酸-天冬氨酸（c（RGDyC））肽作为模板合成荧光金纳米团簇。纳米团簇继承了 Au 核（红色/NIR 荧光发射和强放射增敏作用）和 c（RGDyC）壳（活性癌细胞靶向能力和良好的生物相容性）的特殊性质，可作为荧光探针用于染色 αβ 整联蛋白阳性癌细胞，以及放射增敏剂以提高放射疗法的杀伤效果。我们的数据表明，所设计的金纳米团簇具有优异的生物相容性、明亮的红色/NIR 荧光、主动的肿瘤靶向特性和强的放射增敏作用，使其非常有希望应用于潜在的临床转化。
