Fabrication of gold nanoshells for improvement of cell apoptosis and its application in photothermal cancer therapy

Abstract

For cancer diagnosis and therapeutics, we adopted a novel strategy and established a new approach by using transarterial administration of gold nanoshells on silica nanorattles (GSNs) for multifunctional biomedical application. The GSNs exhibit high biocompatibility and stability in vitro and in vivo. It was found that an arterial administration of GSNs showed six-fold higher efficiency than the venous method. In this study, we found that the system of using GSNs had a high near-infrared (NIR) absorbance and excellent photothermal transfer capability for cancer photothermal therapy (PTT) efficiently. More importantly, the GSN treatment method, involving interventional procedures and nanomaterials, showed great potential to promote tumor apoptosis in all research. Using CT imaging technology, we monitored the volume change of tumors and confirmed cell apoptosis by TUNEL staining and immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, arterial administration of GSNs combined with NIR irradiation was established, and the related proteins was examined by Western blotting. Caspase-3 and 9 showed an high expression level within tumor tissues. Finally, a comparative study of biodistribution and safety was performed in vivo, and the biocompatibility was carefully evaluated. This GSN-based method was ultimately shown to be a promising approach for cancer therapy.