Mellor Ryan D, Xiong Guojun, Vaideanu Alexandra G, Gardner Benjamin, Stone Nick, Schätzlein Andreas G, Uchegbu Ijeoma F
School of Pharmacy, University College London (UCL), London, WC1N 1AX, UK.
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QL, UK.
Int J Nanomedicine. 2025 Jun 25;20:8209-8220. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S513400. eCollection 2025.
Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have emerged as promising agents for photothermal cancer therapy due to their unique optical properties and potential for tumour targeting.
In this study, we developed clustered, excretable AuNCs using a glycol chitosan derivative (GCPQ) and investigated their physicochemical properties, photothermal effect, and therapeutic efficacy.
The AuNCs exhibited tunable surface plasmon resonance peaks dependent on the polymer:AuNP ratio, with optimized clusters showing surface enhanced Raman scattering and photothermal heating. In vivo studies in a mouse tumour model demonstrated significant tumour growth inhibition (334% growth vs 607% growth for untreated animals after 6 days) when combining intratumoural AuNC injection with near-infrared laser irradiation.
The results provide proof-of-concept for the potential of these AuNCs in photothermal cancer therapy. Future work should focus on improving tumour targeting, optimizing treatment parameters, and assessing long-term safety to advance this platform toward clinical translation.
金纳米团簇（AuNCs）因其独特的光学性质和肿瘤靶向潜力，已成为光热癌症治疗中颇具前景的药物。
在本研究中，我们使用一种壳聚糖二醇衍生物（GCPQ）制备了可聚集、可排泄的金纳米团簇，并研究了它们的物理化学性质、光热效应和治疗效果。
金纳米团簇表现出取决于聚合物与金纳米粒子比例的可调表面等离子体共振峰，优化后的团簇显示出表面增强拉曼散射和光热加热。在小鼠肿瘤模型中的体内研究表明，当瘤内注射金纳米团簇并结合近红外激光照射时，肿瘤生长受到显著抑制（6天后，治疗组肿瘤生长334%，未治疗动物为607%）。
这些结果为这些金纳米团簇在光热癌症治疗中的潜力提供了概念验证。未来的工作应集中在改善肿瘤靶向性、优化治疗参数以及评估长期安全性，以推动该平台向临床转化发展。
