El-Sayed Nesma, Schneider Marc
Department of Pharmacy, Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Saarland University, Campus C4 1, D-66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
J Mater Chem B. 2020 Sep 9. doi: 10.1039/d0tb01610a.
The interest in using gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) as imaging probes is growing, covering wide ranges of applications. The stabilization of AuNCs with protein ligands enhances their biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. This is due to the biocompatibility, water solubility and bioactivity of proteins. Different factors can control the optical properties of AuNCs such as protein size, amino acids content and conformational structure. Controlling the synthesis conditions can result in tuning the AuNCs excitation, emission, fluorescence intensity and physicochemical properties to fulfill different applications. NIR-emitting protein-stabilized AuNCs are promising as imaging agents for targeting and visualization of cancer in vitro and in vivo. They are promising to be included as an important part of multifunctional theranostic nanosystems, due to their potential dual functions as imaging and photosensitizing agent for photodynamic therapy. Additionally, the protein around AuNCs represents a rich environment of active functional groups that are susceptible for conjugation with various biomolecules. Protein-AuNCs can act as fluorescent probes for rapid and selective analysis of different analytes in solution, cells or biological fluids. In conclusion, the variability of protein-AuNC applications can advance research in different biomedical and pharmaceutical fields.
将金纳米团簇（AuNCs）用作成像探针的兴趣与日俱增，其应用范围广泛。用蛋白质配体稳定AuNCs可增强其生物医学和药物应用。这归因于蛋白质的生物相容性、水溶性和生物活性。不同因素可控制AuNCs的光学性质，如蛋白质大小、氨基酸含量和构象结构。控制合成条件可调节AuNCs的激发、发射、荧光强度和物理化学性质，以满足不同应用。发射近红外光的蛋白质稳定化AuNCs有望作为成像剂用于体外和体内癌症的靶向和可视化。由于其作为光动力治疗的成像剂和光敏剂的潜在双重功能，它们有望成为多功能治疗诊断纳米系统的重要组成部分。此外，AuNCs周围的蛋白质代表了一个富含活性官能团的环境，这些官能团易于与各种生物分子结合。蛋白质-AuNCs可作为荧光探针用于快速、选择性地分析溶液、细胞或生物流体中的不同分析物。总之，蛋白质-AuNCs应用的多样性可推动不同生物医学和制药领域的研究。
