Hyaluronic Acid-Modified and TPCA-1-Loaded Gold Nanocages Alleviate Inflammation

Abstract

Gold nanocages (AuNCs) are biocompatible and porous nanogold particles that have been widely used in biomedical fields. In this study, hyaluronic acid (HA) and peptide- modified gold nanocages (HA-AuNCs/T/P) loaded with 2-[(aminocarbonyl)amino]-5-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-thiophenecarboxamide (TPCA-1) were prepared to investigate their potential for combating inflammation. TPCA-1 was released from AuNCs, intracellularly when HA was hydrolyzed by hyaluronidase. HA-AuNCs/T/P show a much higher intracellular uptake than AuNCs/T/P, and exhibit a much higher efficacy on the suppression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) than free TPCA-1, suggesting great improvement to the anti-inflammatory efficacy of TPCA-1 through the application of AuNCs. HA-AuNCs/T/P can also reduce the production of reactive oxygen species in inflammatory cells. This study suggests that HA-AuNCs/T/P may be potential agents for anti-inflammatory treatment, and are worthy of further investigation.